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CONSPIRACY 



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SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE, 



AND OF 



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JOHN LEWIS FIESCO 



AGAINST 







GENOA* 



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BOSTON: 

HILLIARD, GRAY, LITTLE & WILKINS, 






1828. 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT ! 

District Clerk's Office. 
Be it remembered, that on the eleventh day of March, A. D. 1828. 
in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of 
America, Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, of the said dis- 
trict, have deposited in this Office, the Title of a Book, the right 
whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to icit : 

" Conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice, and of John Lewis 
Fiesco against Genoa." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, enti- 
tled, " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the cop- 
ies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies, during the times therein mentioned }"' and also to an act enti- 
tled, " An act supplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encour- 
agement of learning, by securing the cc$>ies of maps, charts and books 
to the authors and proprietors of sufji Jopies during the times therein 
mentioned 5 and extending the benefiys'rhereofto the arts of designing, 
engraving and etching historical aitd other prints." 

JOHN W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. 

am 

MAR 27 1908 




MUNROE & FRANCIS, PRINTERS. 



NOTE. 



The account of the conspiracy of the Spaniards 
against Venice, written by the abbe Real, has been 
considered one of the most interesting works ever 
published. Charles Butler, author of " Reminis- 
cences," who was requested by a lady to prescribe 
for her a course of historical reading, places it in the 
list of books which he recommended. The French 
tragedy of " Manlius," written by Lafosse, and the 
English tragedy of " Venice Preserved," written by 
Otway, are founded on events which it relates. 



INTRODUCTION. 



No enterprise, in which men can be engag- 
ed, calls into action such elevated faculties as 
a conspiracy. Courage, prudence, and fidel- 
ity, all equally essential, are qualities rare in 
their nature ; but it is still more rare to find 
tfrem united in the same individual. As men 
naturally flatter themselves that they are 
more beloved than they really are, especially 
when they deserve, and have endeavored to 
inspire esteem, some leaders of conspiracies 
rely implicitly upon the attachment of their 
associates ; but the most ardent attachment 
is seldom stronger than the fear of death. 
And, moreover, extreme warmth of attach- 
ment is of itself too apt to confuse the judg- 
ment in unexpected occurrences ; it is incom- 






Mil INTRODUCTION. 



patible with the necessary discretion ; and 
generally those who are excessively anxious 
to accomplish an object are too unable to con- 
ceal their anxiety. 

If, from the known prudence of a conspira- 
rator, reliance may be placed on his discre- 
tion, he will not, for that very reason, engage 
in such an undertaking so zealously as others ; 
he will perceive the magnitude and probabil- 
ity of the danger to which he exposes himself, 
and will provide in the outset the means of" 
retreat ; he will be apt to reflect that the ad- 
vantages he may derive are uncertain, and 
that, if he makes a disclosure, he may be sure 
of safety and reward. 

Besides, the talents of men are, for the most 
part, the result of their experience ; and they 
rarely reason correctly in the first important 
affair in which they engage. The wisest are 
those who profit by the errors they have com- 
mitted, and deduce from their consequences, 
rules for the government of their future con- 
duct. But as there are no points of resem- 
blance, whether the danger or the difficulty 
be considered, between a conspiracy and any 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

other affair whatever, the experience, which 
may be otherwise acquired, can be of no use 
in the conduct of an enterprise of this des- 
cription. To enable an associate in a con- 
spiracy to avoid committing an error, he must 
have been engaged in one previously ; but it 
seldom happens that the same man is con- 
cerned in two. If the first succeeds, the ad- 
vantages he derives from it generally relieve 
him from the necessity of exposing himself 
again to the same dangers ; if it fails, he per- 
ishes ; or, if he escapes, he will rarely be 
willing to incur, a second time, the same 
peril. 

Furthermore, it must be observed that, 
however strong may be their hatred of ty- 
rants, men always love themselves more than 
they hate others. It is not enough that eve- 
ry conspirator is in fact faithful, each must 
also be convinced that all his associates will 
be equally faithful ; and a leader must have 
regard to all the panic terrors, and ridiculous 
apprehensions which may seize them, as well 
as to the real difficulties which he may have 
to encounter, either being alike capable of 



INTRODUCTION. 



ruining his enterprise. Add to this, that a 
word spoken of something else, a gesture 
made without motive, may excite suspicion 
of discovery, and precipitate the execution ; 
that a circumstance of not the slightest im- 
portance will sometimes frighten men for no 
other reason than because it was unexpected ; 
and that men are so constituted that they al- 
ways apprehend their secret is known, and 
every thing said or done in their presence 
leads them to suspect they are discovered. 
He who is conscious of guilt is startled at ev- 
ery thinir. 

If these difficulties are almost insurmount- 
able in conspiracies against a single person, 
how much greater must they be in conspira- 
cies aimed against a large number at once, 
for instance a city or a kingdom, and which 
of course require more time to arrange, and 
more persons to execute them. 

These considerations have always led me 
to regard this kind of enterprise as furnishing 
the most instructive portions of history ; 
and have induced* me to give to the public an 
account of the conspiracy formed, in 1618, 






INTRODUCTION. xi 

Jagainst Venice, by an ambassador from Spain 
to that republic.* 
tJVfy judgment may possibly be influenced 
*M by love of the subject on which I have under- 
taken to write ; but I frankly avow that it 
appears to me that no where can we, so well 
as in such enterprises, see how much pru- 
dence, and how much chance avails in human 
affairs ; nor learn the utmost reach of the 
powers of the mind, and its various limits ; 
its highest elevations, and its most secret 
weaknesses ; the variety of considerations 
necessary in governing men ; the difference 
between commendable ingenuity, and repre- 
hensible intrigue, between dexterity and cun- 
tning. And if malignity is never more hateful 
than when it makes a bad use of the most ex- 
cellent qualities, the reader of this history must 
* This conspiracy is spoken of in the history of Nani, book III, page 
156, and in the fifth volume of the Mercure Francois, for the year 1618, 
page 38, where may be seen a letter from Venice, dated the 21st of 
May of that year. The principal authorities for this history, such as the 
statement of the marquis of Bedmar, the long despatch of the captain, 
James Pierre, to the duke of Ossuna, the deposition of Jaffier, the crim- 
inal proceedings against the conspirators, and several others, may be 
found among the manuscripts in the national library ; and the Squittinio 
della Liberia. Veneta among the printed works. Divers other manu- 
scripts have also been consulted. 



XII INTRODUCTION. 

feel unutterable horror when he witnesses the 
sublimest faculties of man devoted to the ac- 
complishment of a detestable purpose. Thus 
an ancient Grecian, seeing a criminal, suffer- 
ing under the torture, adhere, with wonder- 
ful constancy, to a falsehood, could not avoid 
exclaiming, " O the wretch ! to prostitute 
so noble a faculty to so bad a purpose." 



CONSPIRACY, 



The controversy between the holy pontiff, Paul V, 
and the republic of Venice, having been terminated 
by the mediation of France, in a manner preserving 
to the holy See the honor due to it, and to the Vene- 
tians the glory they had merited, none but the Span- 
iards had reason to be dissatisfied. As they had de- 
clared for the Pope, and had offered to subjugate the 
Venetians, they were offended that he had entered 
into an arrangement without their participation ; but 
having discovered the secret of this arrangement, they 
were convinced that they had no cause of complaint 
against him, and that the slight they had experienced 
was to be attributed solely to the republic. It was, 
in fact, in compliance with the wishes of the Vene- 
tian senate, that they had been, in a measure, exclu- 
ded from the mediation. This body insisted that 
they ought not to be umpires after having displayed 
so much partiality. 

Whatever resentment they felt, they concealed it in 
their own bosoms during the reign of Henry IV. 
2 



— 7] 



14 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

The obligations of this prince to the Venetians were 
well known ; and the care which he had taken of 
their interests, in their controversy with the Pope, 
was not less so. But his death permitted the Span- 
iards to act with freedom, and they waited only for 
a pretext. 

A troop of pirates, called Uscoques, had formed 
an establishment upon the territory of Austria, situat- 
ed upon the Adriatic sea, near to the Venetians. 
They committed many outrages upon the citizens of 
the republic, but were protected by the archduke 
Ferdinand of Gratz, then sovereign of this territory 
and afterwards emperor. This prince was very re- 
ligious, but his ministers shared in the booty of the pi- 
rates ; and, being devoted to Spain, they seized this 
occasion to avenge the wrongs which that nation had 
received from the Venetians. 

The emperor Matthias, listening to the well-found- 
ed complaints of the republic, endeavored, by an ar- 
rangement made in February, 1612, to put an end to 
these disorders ; but this arrangement was so little re- 
garded by the archduke, that an open war was the 
consequence, in which his success did not answer the 
hopes and expectations of the Spaniards. 

The Venetians easily repaired the losses they had 
sustained in a few trifling engagements. Having noth- 
ing to fear from the Turks, they could carry on the 
war with less inconvenience than the archduke. This 
prince was urged by the emperor to make peace, be- 
cause he apprehended an attack from the Grand 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 15 

Seignor, upon Hungary, and because he found it nec- 
essary to expend large sums to gain his election as 
king of Bohemia, which took place soon after. The 
Spaniards would have cheerfully furnished him the 
means of continuing the contest ; but Charles Em- 
manuel, duke of Savoy, with whom they were then 
at war, kept them from dividing their forces ; and as 
the duke received large subsidies from the Venetians, 
the Spaniards were unable to detach him from them. 

The council of Spain felt indignant at finding the 
Venetians so strong on all sides. The mild and pa- 
cific temper of Philip III, and of the duke of Lerma, 
his favorite, restrained them from adopting such 
measures as their feelings dictated ; but one of their 
ministers in Italy, of a disposition more enterprising 
and fearless, undertook to relieve their embarrass- 
ment. 

This prince was don Alphonso de la Queva, mar- 
quis of Bedmar, arhbassador resident at Venice, one 
of the ablest and most dangerous characters that 
Spain has ever produced. The writings which he 
has left show that, by deeply studying the ancient and 
modern historians, he had acquired all that was requi- 
site to form an extraordinary man. He compared 
the events they related with those that happened in 
his own time. He noted with exactness wherein 
they were different, and wherein they were similar ; 
and considered what influence the particulars in which 
they differed must have upon those in which they 
agreed. He generally formed his opinion of the re- 



16 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

suit of a project, as soon as he had learned the origin 
and the plan of it. If he found, by the event, that his 
opinion was not correct, he ascended to the source 
of his error, and endeavored to discover by what 
he had been deceived. By studies of this nature he 
had learned what are the true methods, the certain 
means, and the important circumstances which, al- 
most always, ensure success in great designs. This 
constant practice of reading, of meditation, and of ob- 
servation upon human affairs, had raised so high his 
reputation for sagacity, that his conjectures concern- 
ing the future were regarded, in the council of Spain, 
with almost as much respect as prophecies. 

To this intimate acquaintance with the nature of hu- 
man affairs, he added singular talents for directing 
them ; an ability to speak and write with inexpressi- 
ble sweetness ; an unerring instinct in judging of 
men ; an air of openness and gaiety, evincing more 
animation than gravity. He was so free apparently 
from dissimulation as to seem a model of ingenuous- 
ness. His disposition was at once complaisant and 
engaging, and he concealed his thoughts and senti- 
ments the more perfectly because all fancied they 
could divine them. His manners were so affection- 
ate and insinuating, that he drew from the closest bo- 
soms their dearest secrets ; and he exhibited all the 
appearances of composure and tranquillity of mind in 
the midst of the most cruel distractions. 

At that period, the ambassadors of Spain usually 
governed the courts to which they were sent ; and 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 17 

the marquis of Bedmar had been selected, in 1507, 
for that of Venice, as the most difficult of foreign sta- 
tions, where neither women, monks nor favorites had 
any influence. The council of Spain were so well 
satisfied with his conduct, that, however desirous they 
might be of employing him elsewhere, they could not, 
even after he had resided there six years, resolve to 
recal him. 

His long residence at Venice had enabled him to 
study the principles of the government, to discover its 
most secret springs, to perceive its strength and its 
weakness, its advantages and its defects. Appre- 
hending that the archduke would be obliged to con- 
clude a peace, which could not be otherwise than 
disgraceful to Austria, as she was evidently in the 
wrong, he determined to devise some means to pre* 
vent it. 

He reflected that such was the condition of Venice 
that it was not impossible to become master of it, by 
means of his confidential agents in the city, and the 
forces which were under his control. The armies it 
had sent forth had exhausted it of arms, and still 
more of men capable of using them. As its naval 
force had never been in such excellent condition, the 
senate had never considered itself so formidable, and 
had never felt less fear. This fleet, however, strong 
as it was, dared not leave the coast of Istria, which 
was the seat of war. The army was also at a dis- 
tance, and there was nothing at Venice to resist an at- 
tack from the naval force of Spain. To render such 
2* 



18 



CONSPIRACY OF THE 



an attack more sure of success, he proposed to gain 
possession of the principal posts, such as the square 
of St. Mark, and the arsenal ; and as it would be dif- 
ficult to do this, while the city was in a state of tran- 
quillity, he determined to set fire, at the same mo- 
ment, to those parts which were most combustible, 
and to those which the citizens would be the most 
desirous of preserving. 

He did not think it proper to state his design, in 
the beginning, to his master. He knew that princes 
are unwilling to commit themselves, in relation to 
such projects, until they are so far matured that noth- 
ing is necessary to their execution but an assurance 
that the enterprize will be acknowledged in case of 
success. He merely intimated to the duke of Uzeda, 
tile principal secretary of state, that, perceiving the 
disgrace which the house of Austria had sustained, 
in the war of Friuli, from the insolent conduct of the 
Venetians, and that all the steps towards an accom- 
modation, which had been taken at Vienna and else- 
where, had tended to aggravate it, he conceived him- 
self placed in a situation where duty and policy 
obliged a faithful subject to resort to extraordinary 
measures to preserve his king and country from infa- 
my otherwise inevitable : that this duty particularly 
devolved upon him, on account of the employment he 
held, in which, having constantly in view the origin of 
the evil, he could, better than any other person, de- 
termine what remedy should be applied ; and that he 
should endeavor to perform this duty in a manner 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 19 

worthy of the zeal which he felt for the honor of 
his master. 

The duke of Uzeda, who was well acquainted with 
the character of the ambassador, perceived, at once, 
that he had in contemplation some important and per- 
ilous undertaking ; but as prudent men, until circum- 
stances compel them, do not even avow their knowl- 
edge of such enterprizes, he did not communicate 
his suspicions to the first minister, and replied, in 
general terms, to the marquis of Bedmar, that he 
applauded his zeal and placed implicit reliance up- 
on his well-known discretion. The marquis, for he 
expected no other, was not surprised at receiving so 
cautious an answer ; and immediately began to make 
such arrangements as were best calculated to secure, 
by success, the approbation and acknowledgement of 
his superiors. 

Never was' there a monarchy so absolute as the 
senate of Venice. A marked distinction was made, 
even in the most trivial matters, between the nobility 
and the common people. None but nobles could be 
appointed commanders or governors of the depen- 
dent territories. The most powerful lords, and the 
principal magistrates of these territories, were obliged 
to regard them as sovereigns rather than governors ; 
and if ever the republic gave the command of its sep- 
arate armies to foreigners, their powers were so lim- 
ited that they were compelled to be guided by the 
opinions of the general in chief, and had little to do 
but to execute his orders. 



20 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

As war always affords a plausible pretext for taxing 
the people, that with the Uscoques gave the nobility, 
by whom it was conducted, an excellent opportunity 
to enrich themselves. This war was carried on at 
an enormous expense. Besides the money expend- 
ed in Piedmont, it became necessary, in the end, to 
maintain a third army, in Lombardy, to oppose the 
governor of Milan, who threatened to make a diver- 
sion in favor of the archduke. The justice of the 
cause of the republic emboldened the commanders 
to resort to new modes of raising money, but did not 
render the people more patient in suffering. The 
exactions became so excessive, that the marquis of 
Bedmar had reason to believe that the revolution, 
which he wished to effect, would be as agreeable to 
the people as it would be destructive to the nobility. 

There were many persons, even among the nobili- 
ty, who felt no affection for the government. These 
were the partizans of the court of Rome. Some of 
them, and indeed the greater number, ambitious and 
revengeful, were dissatisfied and incensed because 
the affairs of the republic, during the controversy 
with that court, had been administered contrary to 
their advice. They were ready to do and to suffer 
any thing to deprive of power those who possessed it ; 
and they witnessed with pleasure the misfortunes of 
the state, considering them the consequences of 
measures which they had condemned. Others, sim- 
ple and ignorant, chose to be more catholic than the 
pope himself. As he had, in the peace which had 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 21 

been concluded, relinquished a part of his pretensions, 
they supposed that he had been induced to do so 
from policy ; and that, as he might have acted with a 
mental reservation, there was reason to fear that the 
sentence of excommunication yet remained Hi force 
in the intention of his holiness. Of this number were 
several senators, as destitute of fortune as of intellect. 
These, in the sequel, were very serviceable to the 
marquis, who convinced them, by the benefits he con- 
ferred, that, after this affair, no one could be a Vene- 
tian with a safe conscience. 

Although the nobles were strictly forbidden to have 
any intercourse with foreigners, the marquis had 
found means to establish a confidential correspond- 
ence with the most restless and discontented. If 
they had a near relative in any of the convents, any 
mistress, or any ecclesiastic, who w r as intimate with 
their families, he spared no pains nor expense to be- 
come acquainted with them ; he made them presents, 
which, though they generally consisted merely of the 
curiosities of foreign countries, were nevertheless 
highly valuable. These presents, spontaneously con- 
ferred, led those who received them to anticipate 
even greater ; they therefore eagerly answered all 
his inquiries ; and took pains to acquire information 
to communicate to him. The rewards he bestowed 
surpassed their expectation, and they labored inces- 
santly to engage their superiors in the same secret in- 
tercourse, until success crowned their exertions. 
The poverty of the nobles had doubtless some influ- 



22 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

ence ; they probably could not see, without envy, 
their dependants growing richer than themselves by 
means of presents conferred merely because they 
were their dependants. However this may be, none 
of the deliberations of the senate were, afterwards, 
unknown to the ambassador of Spain ; he was inform- 
ed of ail its decisions ; and such as related to the 
war were communicated to the generals of the arch- 
duke before those of the republic had received an 
order to execute them. 

Though possessed of these means of gaining intelli- 
gence, a considerable number of troops was still nec- 
essary to enable him to execute his enterprise ; but 
as there was a powerful Spanish army in Lombardy, 
he had no apprehension that men would be wanting, 
provided the governor of Milan would enter into his 
designs. The marquis of Iniosa, who then held that 
office, had too intimate a correspondence with the 
duke of Savoy to be trusted with safety. He had 
just concluded with that duke the treaty of Asti, of 
which France and the Venetians were mediators. 
The ambassador, who knew that this negotiation 
would not be approved, in Spain, wrote home, advis- 
ing the recal of Iniosa, and, at the same time, request- 
ed don Pedro of Toledo, marquis of Villa-franca, 
his intimate friend, to solicit the government of Mi- 
lan. Don Pedro, about the end of the year 16J5, 
received orders to set out immediately to take the 
place of Iniosa ; and the instant after his arrival at 
Milan, he gave notice thereof to the senate of Venice, 
by the marquis of Lara. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 23 

The ambassador communicated bis project to this 
marquis in the manner which he judged best calcu- 
lated to induce him to approve it ; and he charged 
him particularly to ascertain whether the new gover- 
nor could spare him fifteen hundred of his best troops, 
whenever they might be wanted. Don Pedro, charm- 
ed with the project, resolved to afford all the assist- 
ance he could, without exposing himself to certain ru- 
in should it fail. He dispatched the marquis of Lara, 
a second time, to Venice, to communicate this resolu- 
tion to the ambassador ; but, at the same time, he be- 
sought him to consider that he could not send that 
number of troops without selecting all that were good, 
and that, should they be lost by the failure of the en- 
terprise, he would incur the severest censure, for hav- 
ing exposed to such imminent danger the bravest 
soldiers of his army. He would, however, spare all 
that he could, and would select them so carefully 
that he would be answerable for their fidelity. 

Nothing was more important to the designs of the 
ambassador than to prevent the restoration of harmo- 
ny between the contending powers. With this view, 
he persuaded the marquis of Lara to make the most 
unreasonable propositions in behalf of the governor 
of Milan. The senate, as was foreseen, rejected 
them with indignation, and declined negotiating with 
him. Don Pedro, on his part, omitted nothing calcu- 
lated to embroil affairs still more. The duke of 
Mantua felt little inclination to pardon his rebellious 
subjects, which he had engaged to do by the treaty 



24 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

of Asti. Means were used to render him obstinate 
on this point, and to induce him to continue, as he 
had begun, to inflict punishment upon them. Propo- 
sitions were made, by the agents of Spain, to the 
duke of Savoy, for the execution of this treaty, which 
they well knew he would not accept; and they de- 
layed disbanding their troops, which he had done 
and they ought to have done, under the pretence 
that Spain could no longer, with honor, refuse to 
take part in the war of Friuli : the Venetian army 
had passed the Lizonzo, and besieged Gradisca, the 
capital of the territories of the arch-duke. 

The council of Spain, which had hitherto appear- 
ed neutral, perceiving this prince in danger, threaten- 
ed to declare in his favor. At this time, the misun- 
derstanding which, since the contest between the son 
and brother of Charles the fifth, for the succession to 
the empire, had divided the Spanish and German 
branches of the house of Austria, had been adjusted. 
The interest which the Spaniards took in this war 
was the first mark of their reconciliation. Don Pedro 
ordered colonel Gambalotta to advance, with his 
troops, towards Crema ; and he caused twenty-four 
pieces of battering artillery to be mounted at Pavia ; 
which were soon, as he declared, to be sent with a 
body of eight thousand troops under the command of 
don Sancho de Luna. In another quarter, the vice- 
roy of Naples, who was cruising in the Mediterrane- 
an with a Spanish fleet, threatened to attack Villa- 
franca, belonging to the duke of Savoy, lie prevent- 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 25 

ed the arrival, by sea, of all assistance to the repub- 
lic, and was assiduous in making arrangements to en- 
ter the gulf, for the avowed purpose of keeping in 
check the Venetian fleet. 

The ministers of Venice having remonstrated to 
all the European Courts against this violent proceed- 
ing, the marquis of Bedmar undertook to justify it. 
He considered it also important to his design, to strike 
at the root of the veneration, which had, for so many 
centuries, been felt throughout Europe for this repub- 
lic, as the oldest and freest of all nations. Its free- 
dom and independence had lately been vindicated 
and more vaunted than ever, in several publications, 
written during the controversy with the pope, which 
were yet considered unanswerable, although many 
replies had been written by able men of the opposite 
party. 

The ambassador, undertaking to examine these 
publications himself, refuted, in a few chapters, the 
numerous volumes of the Venetian authors, without 
deigning to name one of them. And as, in matters 
of this nature, there is no question which an ingenious 
disputant may not render doubtful, he, under the pre- 
text of establishing the authority of the emperors 
over Venice, demonstrated that the independence of 
this republic was bat a chimera, and that its domin- 
ion over the sea was not better founded. As it was 
not consistent with his purpose to be known as the au- 
thor of this work, he caused it to be published so pri- 
vately that it was not known, during his life, that he 
3 



26 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

had any share in composing it. That he was not 
suspected, appears strange ; but the truth probably 
is, that he had not yet become fully known to the 
Venetians. His lively and impetuous deportment, 
which he sought not to restrain but chose to display 
on all occasions, prevented them from imagining that 
a man of such character could be the author of a po- 
litical satire of so much subtlety and refinement. 
Candor and sincerity seemed to pervade it through- 
out ; and the censures of the encroachments of the 
Venetians, which were occasionally introduced, were 
expressed with such apparent moderation, as sufficed 
to render them plausible. This work, the title of 
which was Squitiinio della Liberta Vencta, was the 
universal topic of conversation. 

As the author was unknown, suspicion naturally 
fell upon the court of Rome, whence the preceding 
publications, on that side of the question, had emanated. 
The wise men of the Senate imagined that the world 
felt the force of it as they did ; it dismayed them 
like the loss of a battle ; and father Paul was direct- 
ed to examine it. This man, who had treated with 
ridicule the other writers of that party, declared that 
no reply ought to be made to the last, for none could 
be made without disclosing facts which prudence re- 
quired should remain buried in the obscurity of anti- 
quity ; that, nevertheless, if in the opinion of the 
Senate, it best comported with the dignity of the re- 
public to resent this outrage, he would undertake to 
give the court of Rome so much trouble in defending 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. T( 

itself, that it would think no more of attacking others. 
This intimation was listened to in the first warmth of 
resentment, and father Paul had the gratification of 
publishing his History of the Council of Trent, a 
work dear to his heart, which otherwise would not 
have appeared during his life time. 

The Gampaign of the year 1616, having, in the 
meantime, closed, without any decisive advantage to 
either side, the duke of Savoy and the Venetians, 
who were unwilling to hazard, in a second, the glory 
they had acquired, empowered Gritti, the Venetian 
ambassador at Madrid, to renew the negotiation. 
The Spaniards, irritated by the resistance they had 
met with, made such unreasonable propositions that 
nothing was accomplished. Gradisca was yet block- 
aded j the war continued through the winter ; and 
the two armies took the field in the spring, displaying 
a degree of animation and ardor that promised more 
brilliant exploits than those of the preceding year. 
The truce between Holland and Spain having enabled 
the former to dispense with the services of her troops, 
and obliged the French and German adventurers to 
seek employment elsewhere, the counts of Nassau 
and Lievestien brought eight thousand Hollanders, or 
Walloons, to the assistance of the republic. The 
Spaniards complained loudly to the pope against the 
Venetians, for exposing Italy to the infection of heresy, 
by introducing these soldiers ; but the Venetian am- 
bassador easily convinced him that the complaints of 
the Spaniards were caused, not so much by their re- 



28 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

gard for religion, as by their chagrin at seeing two 
great republics uniting their forces in opposition to 
them. 

The marquis of Bedmar would have been not a 
little embarrassed had the pope obliged the Venetians 
to dismiss these heretics. As soldiers, for the most 
part, have only their personal interest in view, when 
they enter into the service of a foreign prince, he 
hoped to induce the chiefs of these mercenaries to 
embark in his designs, by the offer of higher wages 
and the allurement of the pillage of Venice. To ne- 
gotiate with them, he selected an aged French gentle- 
man, named Nicholas de Renault, a man of intelli- 
gence and discretion, who had taken refuge in Ven- 
ice, for some reason which no one had been able to 
discover. The marquis of Bedmar had often seen 
him at the palace of the French ambassador, where 
he resided. In several conversations, which they 
accidentally had with each other, Renault discovered 
that the world had not estimated too highly the intel- 
ligence and ability of the marquis ; and the latter, 
sensible of the advantage of having such a friend in 
the suite of the ambassador of France, formed an inti- 
mate connection with him. 

This man, though extremely poor, esteemed virtue 
higher than riches ; but he loved glory more than 
virtue ; and, could he find no innocent means of ac- 
quiring it, there were none, however criminal, which 
he was not willing to resort to. In perusing the an- 
cient writers, he had imbibed that rare indifference to 









SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 29 

life and to death which, more than any thing else, 
incites to extraordinary enterprises ; and he never 
ceased to regret those illustrious ages, in which the 
talents of individuals controlled the destiny of nations, 
and when those, who possessed them, were never 
without the means nor opportunities to display them. 
The marquis of Bedmar, who had deeply studied 
his character, and had need of a man, to direct his 
enterprise, in whom he could entirely confide, said to 
him, when he disclosed it, that he had fixed his 
thoughts upon him, the moment the project first en- 
tered his mind. This remark bound Renault to him 
more firmly than the warmest praises could have 
done. His advanced age did not deter him from 
joining in the plot ; the less of life that remained to 
him, the less he had to risk ; and he thought he could 
not better employ the sad remnant of his years than 
in hazarding them to render his name immortal. The 
marquis gave him the control of sufficient funds to ne- 
gotiate with the Dutch commanders. He charged 
him not to disclose the enterprise, at present, but 
merely to intimate, that affairs were in such disorder 
that the Spanish ambassador at Venice foresaw that a 
time might arrive when his person would be in dan- 
ger from the fury of the populace ; and that, for his 
own protection, he wished to secure the services of a 
considerable number of faithful and resolute friends. 
This pretext was a gross one ; but the slightest dis- 
guise is of great use, in affairs of this kind. It im- 
ports little that it is known that something is conceal- 



^P">— •■9— 



30 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

ed, if the real secret is not discovered. In this way- 
he hoped that he might seduce the choicest portion of 
the Venetian army, and that it would then be left so 
weak that Don Pedro could easily defeat it, on its 
way to Venice, should the senate recai it to oppose 
the conspirators. 

The navy was to be feared more than the army. 
It had been accustomed to conquer, and could be 
much more r eadily recalled. The greater number 
of the sailors were natives of the republic ; and it 
could not be doubted that, on the discovery of the 
conspiracy, the fleet would hasten home. To expect 
that the Spanish fleet would defeat it, would be an 
unsafe reliance ; and it would not be prudent to com- 
mit, to the fortune of a battle, the success of an en- 
terprise in other respects so hazardous. It was nec- 
essary to contrive means to render this fleet incapa- 
ble of affording assistance. 

The ambassador, not having had so much experi- 
ence in naval affairs as the viceroy of Naples, who 
commanded the naval force of Spain, thought it his 
duty to consult him on this subject. This viceroy, 
who was to be a principal actor in the«trage<^ which 
the ambassador was preparing* was that duke of Os- 
suna, who was so celebrated for his gallantries, and 
was as enterprising as Don Pedro, or the Marquis of 
Bedmar. This resemblance of disposition had pro- 
duced an intimate friendship between the three. 
Don Pedro and the duke of Ossuna had not the 
qualifications of cabinet politicians, and the duke even 






SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 31 

sometimes committed eccentricities which might be 
called extravagances ; but the deference which both 
felt for the marquis of Bedmar supplied the place of 
that discretion which thev wanted. 

The profits which piracy yields, to those who pur- 
sue it under the protection of a powerful nation, had 
attracted to the court of Naples all the celebrated 
corsairs of the Mediterranean. The viceroy, who 
was fond of extraordinary projects, and rather prodi- 
gal than avaricious, protected them, not so much for 
the share which he received of their booty, as for the 
purpose of collecting around him a numerous body of 
such men as would be ready to perform whatever he 
should desire. He not only welcomed to his domin- 
ions those who came voluntarily ; but, whenever he 
heard of one who had more than ordinary reputation 
in his profession, he sought him out, and was so liber- 
al of his favors that he attached him firmly to his 
person. He had, in this manner, secured the friend- 
ship of captain James Pierre, a Norman by birth, 
and so eminent in his profession, that others were 
proud of having learned it under his instruction. 

The disposition of this captain did not partake of 
the barbarity which is characteristic of his occupation. 
Having acquired the means of living genteely, he re- 
solved to quit it, though yet in the flower of his age ; 
and he chose, for his retreat, the territories of the 
duke of Savoy. This prince, enamoured of every 
species of extraordinary talent, and so much the more 
capable of appreciating it in others, as nature had 






32 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

been liberal to himself, permitted the corsair, who 
passed for one of the bravest of men, to establish him- 
self at Nice. Every officer, soldier, and sailor, who 
frequented this part of the country, rendered him the 
homage due to a chieftain. To them his counsels 
w T ere oracles ; he was the sovereign arbiter of their 
disputes ; and they never ceased to admire a man 
who had quitted a pursuit, in which he was so well 
qualified to excel, and which is the most difficult of 
all to abandon. 

Among his associates was one named Vincent Rob- 
ert, of Marseilles, who, having landed at Sicily, where 
the duke of Ossuna was then viceroy, was so cor- 
dially welcomed that he enlisted in his service. The 
duke, understanding that he was a friend of the cap- 
tain, complained to him, in good humour, that his 
friend, in selecting a retreat, had preferred the gov- 
ernment of the duke of Savoy to his own, expressing, 
at the same time, a high respect for the courage of 
the captain, and for his experience in naval affairs, 
and declaring that he would omit nothing which could 
have the effect to attract to his court a man of such 
extraordinary merit. Robert gladly undertook to 
persuade him to repair thither ; and his efforts were 
so well assisted by the advances of the viceroy, that 
the captain at length repaired to Sicily, with his wife 
and children. 

As he had never entirely banished the sea from 
his thoughts, the passion, which he had once felt for 
it, had not been extinguished. The galleons, which 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 33 

the viceroy had lately built, were so fine, and several 
Turkish vessels were then at sea with such feeble 
convoy, that he could not resist the temptation they 
presented. And he had no occasion to regret that 
he yielded to it. He gained an immense booty ; and 
the duke of Ossuna, who, from that time, lived with 
him as with a brother, surrendered most of it to him, 
on condition that he would follow him to Naples, of 
which the king had just appointed him viceroy, and 
that he would make a voyage to Provence, to engage 
in his service the best of the sea-faring men with 
whom he was acquainted, on that coast. He brought 
back with him a sufficient number to man five large 
vessels, which belonged to the viceroy in person, and 
of which he had the sole direction. With this little 
fleet, he ravaged, with impunity, all the islands and 
shores of the Levant, and, at the close of his first 
cruise, he fought a great battle, in which he captured 
or sunk the whole of a large squadron of Turkish 
gallies. 

It was at this period that the marquis of Bedmar, 
persuaded that the duke of Ossuna would cheerfully 
assist him, communicated to him his design. This 
duke, anxious to obtain the control of these seas, de- 
sired nothing more ardently than to ruin those who 
alone could dispute it with him, and who could not be 
beaten so easily as the Turks. He consulted the 
captain on the subject, and stated such difficulties as 
occurred to him. The captain did not think them 
insurmountable j and after several days, which were 



34 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

spent in private conference, he secretly quitted Na- 
ples, in a manner indicative of extreme precipitation 
and terror. The viceroy despatched messengers in 
every direction, except the one in which he fled, with 
orders to seize him dead or alive. His wife and 
children were imprisoned, and were apparently treat- 
ed with extreme cruelty. All his property was con- 
fiscated ; and though the duke had long been known 
to be excessively passionate, yet the transports of rage 
which he exhibited on this occasion surprised all Na- 
ples. As the captain appeared not less excited, it 
was easily believed that a misunderstanding had taken 
place, and that he had been detected in some designs 
injurious to Spain, or to the interests of the duke. 
He returned to his former asylum. 

The duke of Savoy was at open war with Spain, 
and had the reputation of a most generous prince. 
Though he had manifested some displeasure, when 
the captain quitted his dominions to settle in Sicily, 
yet the impostor did not hesitate to throw himself at 
his feet. He communicated to him several pretend- 
ed designs of the viceroy against Venice, which, 
though atrocious, had nothing in common with the 
true one ; and observed that, as he could not engage 
in them with honor, he had resolved to take measures 
to escape from Naples, with his family and property ; 
but having learned that the viceroy had discovered 
his intention, he had been obliged to fly, in the great- 
est haste, leaving all that was dear to him in the pow- 
er of the most cruel of men, 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 35 

The duke of Savoy, touched with pity at this 
mournful recital, received him with open arms, assur- 
ing him that, his own interests and those of the Vene- 
tians being the same, he would reward the service he 
had rendered the common cause, if the Venetians 
did not. He added, that it was important that the 
senate should be informed, by himself, of the de- 
signs of the duke of Ossuna ; and, after having ex- 
horted him to bear his misfortunes with fortitude, 
furnished him with every thing necessary, and made 
him a magnificent present, he sent him to Venice 
with letters of credit and of recommendation. 

The Venetians were not less compassionate than 
the duke of Savoy. The flight, the poverty, the dis- 
tress, the reputation of the captain, the hope that he 
would attract to their service the many brave men 
whom he had engaged in that of the duke of Ossuna, 
but particularly, the account which he gave of the 
designs of the duke, to which he contrived to give the 
appearance of truth : all spoke so powerfully in his 
favor, that they immediately gave him the command 
of a vessel. This was done contrary to the remon- 
strances of Contarini, ambassador at Rome, who, in 
his letters to the Senate, insisted that this man, hav- 
ing been in the service of the viceroy, should be re- 
garded with suspicion. But, the Venetians, made 
credulous by their fears, disregarded this prudent 
advice. A short time afterwards, the fleet being at 
sea, the captain, aware of the importance of perform- 
ing some signal exploit, in the service of the republic, 



36 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

obtained permission to cruise against the Uscoques, 
and took such considerable prizes that, on his return, 
eleven vessels were added to the one he already com- 
manded. 

He gave an account of his good fortune to the 
duke of Ossuna, and observed, in the conclusion of 
his despatch, " If these simpletons continue to be as 
credulous as they have hitherto been, I dare assure 
your excellency that I shall not spend my time in 
vain in this country." At the same time, he wrote to 
his former companions, at Naples, inviting them to 
enter into the service of the republic. He did not 
find it difficult to persuade them. After his flight, 
the viceroy, pretending to suspect their fidelity, was, 
in his conduct towards them, as harsh as he had 
before been civil. 

The duke of Ossuna complained loudly of the 
protection which the captain received from the repub- 
lic. To retaliate, he collected around him the Us- 
coques, whom the Venetians had driven from their 
retreats. Under his protection, they again made 
cruises. They captured a large vessel, on the way 
from Corfu to Venice, and publicly sold their bootv 
within his dominions. He violated the freedom of 
ports ; made reprisals of great value for trifling inju- 
ries ; refused, when ordered by Spain, to restore 
what he had seized ; and published a manifesto justi- 
fying his disobedience. He sent a powerful fleet in- 
to the Adriatic, and caused the prizes it captured to 
be brought in triumph to Naples. In fine, he ruined 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 37 

their commerce, injuring, at the same time, the Nea- 
politans themselves, who were interested in it ; and 
the farmers of the revenue daring to murmur, he 
threatened to hang them. 

As war had not been declared between Spain and 
the republic, the Venetians were astonished at this 
bold and irregular conduct. It was generally imput- 
ed to the madness of the hot-brained duke of Ossu- 
na ; but the more sagacious, knowing that such rash 
and lawless individuals are often designedly made use 
of, conjectured that the Spaniards were willing he 
should perform what they would be unwilling to avow 
or approve. In his familiar discourse, he frequently 
spoke of surprising the ports of Istria belonging to the 
republic ; of ravaging her islands ; and even of mak- 
ing, if he possibly could, an attack upon Venice. He 
often, with his courtiers, studied the plan of the city ; 
he caused exact maps to be made of its environs, 
and boats, brigantines, and other small vessels, adapt- 
ed to canals, to be constructed ; he caused experi- 
ments to be made to ascertain what burden water of a 
given depth would sustain in boats of different sizes ; 
and he invented new machines to diminish the bur- 
den, and to facilitate the motion of boats. The Ve- 
netian minister at Naples sent home an exact account 
of all this, to the infinite despair of the marquis of 
Bedmar, who began to repent that he had united his 
destiny with that of a man so impetuous and heedless. 
But the result belied his fears. 

The viceroy made all his preparations with so 
4 



38 CONSPIRACY OP THE 

much parade and publicity, that the Venetians could 
only laugh at his folly. Even the most intelligent 
could not believe that any thing serious was intended 
where every step was so ostentatiously taken. The 
duke continued to make his preparations at his leisure, 
and no one regarded them ; and his indiscretion, in- 
stead of ruining the enterprise, aided it more than 
even the circumspection of the marquis of Bedmar. 
Nevertheless the marquis determined to hasten the 
execution of it, either because he did not choose to 
give the Venetians leisure to reflect, or because his 
person was at all times exposed to danger. The Ve- 
netian fleet, having once offered battle to that of 
Spain, which declined engaging, and having ravaged 
the coasts ofPouilly, the populace of Venice became 
so insolent in their exultation, that the ambassador 
and his whole household would have been massacred, 
had not the magistrates sent him a guard. 

The same day, he received news from the camp 
before Gradisca, which consoled him for what had 
happened. Renault informed him, that he found the 
commanders so happily disposed, that he had con- 
cluded his negotiation with little delay. The ambas- 
sador ordered him to repair, before he returned, to 
Milan ; and don Pedro received him with all those 
blandishments with which the great know so well how 
to impel their inferiors to hazard life in their service. 
They agreed that it was necessary to select some 
town on the continental territory of the Venetians, of 
which they might take possession at the same time 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 39 

as of Venice. This, when in their power, would be 
a check upon the other towns in its neighbourhood ; 
w T ould serve as a depot of arms to the Spanish troops 
that might be sent to attack those towns, and as a 
barrier to the Venetian army, should the republic be 
disposed to despatch it to protect them. 

Renault passed through the principal towns and 
stopped some time at Crema, where he formed a par- 
ty, with the aid of a French lieutenant, named John 
Berard, an Italian captain, and a lieutenant belonging 
to Provence, whom don Pedro had already engaged 
to favor his designs. These three men offered to con- 
ceal, in the city, five hundred Spaniards, without ex- 
citing the suspicion of the Venetian commander, 
and to take possession of it eight days afterwards. 
From the examination which Renault made upon the 
spot, he thought they might easily, with that number 
of men, perform what they promised. Nothing 
more was necessary than to cut the throats of a body 
of miserable recruits, who, all the regular troops be- 
ing at Friuli or in the armies, had been detached 
from the militia of the country. 

The duke of Ossuna had also stated to the mar- 
quis of Bedmar that it would be necessary to possess 
some place, belonging to the Venetians, upon the 
gulf, from which assistance and support could be giv- 
en to the Uscoques and the archduke, and to which 
the Spanish fleet might retreat, should it, by any acci- 
dent, be obliged to seek an asylum, when cruising in 
that sea. With this view, they selected Marano, a 



40 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

strong place on an island near to Istria, which has a 
harbor capable of sheltering a large fleet. An Italian, 
named Mazza, who, for forty years, had been ser- 
geant major there, exercised almost as much authori- 
ty as the governor himself. Tempted by a large sum 
of money, and the promise of the chief command, 
this man engaged, whenever he should 'receive or- 
ders from the duke of Ossuna, to massacre the gov- 
ernor, and make himself master of the place, and 
hold it for the Spaniards. It was almost as easy for 
him to perform this promise, as to make it : the gov- 
ernor, who was the purveyor, Lorenzo Tiepolo, lived 
with him on the most familiar terms, and as, in time 
of war, his office of purveyor occupied much of his 
attention, he relinquished to the sergeant major, who 
was the oldest and most respectable officer in the 
garrison, the entire direction of the interior of the 
place. 

Affairs being thus situated, the ambassador deter- 
mined to enter upon the execution of the enterprise ; 
not because he could not, by deferring it longer, con- 
cert additional measures ; but because he was well 
aware that delay is often fatal to designs of this na- 
ture. It is impossible that all the various means, 
contrived to ensure success, should be capable, at 
any one moment, of rendering their most efficient 
aid ; some become less favorable while others are in 
preparation ; and when the leader of a conspiracy is 
once so fortunate as to have a sufficient number, at 
the same moment, present a favorable aspect, he 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 41 

commits a capital fault in omitting to take advantage 
of the happy conjuncture. 

It was of great importance to the honor of Spain, 
that, should the conspiracy fail, the part which her 
ambassador had acted should never be known. He 
therefore resolved not to disclose himself to any of 
the conspirators, except Renault and the captain. 
These two men were unknown to each other ; they 
visited him only when invited ; and, to prevent the 
possibility of their meeting, he had always taken care 
to invite them on different days. Should a discovery 
take place, it would be important to him that they had 
had no intercourse with each other. As that event 
was possible, it was highly desirable to him, that they 
should continue to perform, unknown to each oth- 
er, their respective parts, as they had hitherto done; 
but, after mature reflection, he concluded that this 
was impossible ; and, despairing of success in his de- 
sign, if he did not establish a cordial understanding 
between them, he determined to do it, whatever the 
peril might be. ♦ 

Both of these men had personal courage and dis- 
cretion, but Renault valued himself principally upon 
his capacity of combining and disposing his arrange- 
ments in such manner, that the execution of an enter- 
prise would be easy, and its success infallible. The 
captain, on the contrary, who was much younger, 
valued himself principally upon his power and skill 
in executing designs, and upon being a man of un- 
daunted resolution. The marquis disclosed to him 
4* 



42 CONSPIRACY OF TIU. 

the various negotiations which Renault had success- 
fully concluded ; his fertility in devising expedients 
adapted to every conjuncture ; his eloquence and ad- 
dress in gaining partizans, his ability- to write well, a 
talent of much importance, as it was necessary to be 
constantly informed of the condition of the fleets, of 
the provinces, and of the armies. He added that he 
imagined a man of this description would afford great 
relief and assistance to the captain ; that he was an 
old man of much experience, who was destitute nei- 
ther of courage nor resolution ; but his age, and his 
studious, contemplative habits, rendered him incapa- 
ble of participating with the captain, in the glory of 
executing the enterprise. To Renault he merely ob- 
served that the captain was the agent of the duke of 
Ossuna ; and as the duke was a principal in their de- 
sign, he could not, with propriety, conceal any thing 
from his confidant. He besought him to tolerate the 
manners of the corsair, so far as should be necessary 
in the pursuit of their object, and, by treating him 
with deference, to conciliate a man who was, to the 
last degree, proud and presumptuous. 

The marquis of Bedmar having taken such pains to 
prepare these men to live harmoniously together, his 
astonishment was extreme when, at their first meeting 
at his house, he saw them embrace affectionately, the 
instant they cast their eyes upon each other. It is 
not possible that any mind should be so calm and 
firm as to judge rationally of circumstances that pro- 
duce surprise and astonishment. The first thought 




SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 43 

of the ambassador was, that he was betrayed. As he 
had supposed that these men had no knowledge of 
each other, he could not comprehend why they should 
have concealed from him the fact that they were well 
acquainted. This mystery was soon explained. He 
was told that they had often met at the house of a 
famous Greek, who, though a courtesan, was a wo- 
man of extraordinary merit. Of this no other proof 
was necessary than the fact, that she had, as each 
had requested, faithfully forborne to mention their 
names. This fidelity appeared to them the more 
remarkable, as she was not ignorant that each had 
formed a very high opinion of the other. 

The ambassador, recovering from his surprise, was 
rejoiced to find that the cordial friendship between 
them, which he so ardently desired, was already es- 
tablished. In the course of this interview, each ac- 
knowledged that he had resolved to engage the other 
in the enterprise. As they were much occupied 
with their project, they had sometimes, in the conver- 
sations they had held together, discoursed on topics 
of this nature, while speaking of the affairs of that 
time, and of the state of the war. They made no 
disclosure of their own project, and indeed had not 
the slightest intention to do so : but they now, in 
presence of the ambassador, ingenuously confessed 
that, in the warmth of conversation, they had some- 
times been carried too far, and had used expressions 
which might possibly have betrayed them. •The am- 
bassador advised them to be more circumspect in fu- 



44 CONSPIRACY OF TIIE 

ture, and hinted that their experience should teach 
them that, to preserve an important undertaking re- 
ally secret, it is not enough to say nothing, and to 
do nothing relative to it, but they must forget that 
they know any thing concerning it. 

Afterwards Renault stated, that rumors of peace 
being again circulated, at the close of the month of 
June, the Venetian officers had ill treated the foreign 
troops ; and that, not being restrained by the author- 
ity of the count of Nassau, who had died about that 
time, these troops had shown symptoms of discontent 
before Gradisca ; that the general of the republic, 
fearing that a disturbance might ensue, had placed 
them in several posts distant from each other ; that, 
perceiving from this precaution that they were re- 
garded with distrust, they had revolted, and refused 
with insolence to obey certain orders of the senate ; 
that the general had thought it his duty to execute 
the leaders of the mutiny ; that he had confined the 
principal officers in Padua, and placed the rest in 
different posts, in Lombardy, until their wages could 
be paid, and the conclusion of peace should permit 
him to disband them. 

Renault added, that the lieutenant of the count of 
Nassau, who was one of those with whom he had 
carried on a correspondence, had been banished to 
Brescia ; that he had there concerted a plan, by 
means of which he could deliver that city into the 
hands of don Pedro ; and that it was necessary to 
come to some determination on this point immedi- 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 45 

ately, as the lieutenant insisted on an early and deci- 
sive answer. 

The ambassador replied, that no movement ought 
to be made in that quarter, until they were masters 
of Venice ; that even then ihey had need of but one 
place in Lombardy ; that they were sure of Crema, 
and this new project would be attended with the 
disadvantage of dividing their forces ; that, neverthe- 
less, it was expedient to preserve the friendship of 
those whom he had engaged, but to defer, from time 
to time, under some pretext or other, the execution 
of this project ; and that it would be advisable to 
abandon it, rather than hazard the slightest agitation. 
Renault then stated that, besides this lieutenant, 
he had engaged three Frenchmen named Durand, 
who were sergeants-major of the regiments of Lieves- 
tein, Brainville, and Bribe ; a Savoyard named Ter- 
non, who was present at the assault on Geneva ; a 
Dutchman named Theodore ; Robert Revellido, an 
Italian engineer ; and two other Italians who had 
formerly been employed in the arsenal, the one nam- 
ed Louis de Villa-mezzana, a captain of light horse, 
the other William Retrosi, lieutenant of captain Ho- 
norat, in Parma ; that he had found it necessary to 
make a full disclosure to these nine persons, but he 
had selected them with such care that he would an~ 
swer for their fidelity with his life ; that, while he 
continued in the camp, they had engaged more than 
two hundred officers ; that to these officers he had 
merely stated, as the ambassador had directed, that 



46 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

whenever necessary, they would be required to pro- 
ceed to Venice, to protect his excellency from the 
populace of that city ; that since his return, having, 
by letter, requested a statement of the exact number 
of men upon whom he might securely rely, he had 
been assured that he might depend upon two thou- 
sand, at the least, of the troops of Lievestein, and 
upon two thousand three hundred of those of Nas- 
sau ; that all the officers were ready to place them- 
selves in his power, as security for this engagement ; 
that, from the beginning of the negotiation, they had 
flattered their soldiers with the prospect that, when 
disbanded by the republic, they should be employ- 
ed on some expedition, in which they would obtain a 
rich reward for the privations and distresses they had 
endured ; that there was no reason for apprehending 
that the peculiar nature of the enterprise would, 
when disclosed to them, diminish their ardor ; that 
they were so exasperated against the senate, on ac- 
count of the ignominious treatment they had received, 
that, were they to act from no other impulse, they 
would hesitate at nothing to obtain revenge ;. that, 
nevertheless, for greater safety, the secret should not 
be communicated, if such was the wish of the mar- 
quis, until matters were so well arranged, and the en- 
terprise so near its accomplishment, that little doubt 
could be entertained of its success ; and that, the 
resolution having been taken to deliver up Venice to 
pillage, there was not one who would hesitate to scizo 
the opportunity to enrich himself, in a way so certain 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 47 

- id prompt, and thus be enabled to live in opulence 
the remainder of his days. 

When the enterprise first occurred to the marquis 
of Bedmar, he resolved that he would not engage in 
it, until he had obtained the control of more means 
than were sufficient to ensure success ; and that these 
means should be so independent and disconnected 
that, should it happen that any one should fail him, 
the others would not, for that reason, be less efficient. 
With this view, though he relied with certainty upon 
what don Pedro had promised, and upon the engage- 
ment of the Dutch officers with whom Renault had 
negotiated, he had adopted measures to procure 
troops from the duke of Ossuna. With each of these 
he had made the same engagements for assistance, 
as if he had sought none from the others, and as if he 
had determined to execute three different projects. 

The time had arrived when it was necessary to 
know the precise moment when the duke of Ossuna 
could despatch to Venice the force he had engaged 
to furnish. But as, from his character, they could 
not safely rely upon his word, in an affair of such im- 
portance and delicacy, they determined to send to 
Naples some one capable of judging, on the spot, 
whether he was in a condition to fulfil his engage- 
ment. Should the captain leave Venice, his absence 
would occasion suspicion ; it was necessary that Re- 
nault should remain in the city ; therefore, as the 
most proper person to make this voyage, they selected 
de Bribe, one of the Frenchmen whom Renault had 



48 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

engaged at Friuli. But he having received from the 
republic, when on the point of departing, a commis- 
sion to enlist recruits, they thought it expedient that 
he should remain and perform that service ; and 
another Frenchman, named Laurent Nolot, a com- 
rade of the captain, left Venice in his stead, on the 
first day of the year 1618. 

The marquis of Bedmar thought that the proper 
time had also arrived for coming to an explicit under- 
standing with the council of Spain. To anticipate 
all the explanations which they might require, he sent 
them a detailed and circumstantial account of his proj- 
ect. And as he was well aware that this court was 
dilatory in its deliberations, he insisted, in a private 
letter to the duke of Lerma, upon an early and deci- 
sive answer, observing that the dangers by which he 
was surrounded gave him a right to speak in this ab- 
solute manner, and declaring that, if they detained 
his courier more than eight days, he should interpret 
this delay as an order to abandon the enterprise. 

He received an answer within the time he prescrib- 
ed, but it was not so decisive as he desired. He was 
instructed that, should there be disadvantage in delay, 
he should proceed to the execution of his design ; but 
they expressed a strong desire to receive previously, 
if possible, a full and exact description of the slate 
of the republic. 

The ambassador, who was already prepared on this 
point, immediately drew up a statement so able and so 
elegant that the Spaniards have pronounced it tho 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 49 

most finished of all their state papers. It does not 
appear for what purpose it was prepared ; but those 
who read it with a knowledge of the purpose, per- 
ceive that every word bears upon the design in view. 
He begins by setting forth the difficulty of the task, 
on account of the impenetrable secrecy of the govern- 
ment which he was about to describe. He next 
speaks in praise of that government ; but his eulo- 
gium applies rather to the first age of the re- 
public, than to its present condition. He then, in el- 
oquent language, makes the trite remark, that such is 
the deplorable condition of human affairs, that what- 
ever is most excellent is most liable to corruption ; 
that thus the wisest law T s of this republic, being abus- 
ed, have been the principal causes of its degeneracy ; 
that the law, which excludes the people from all par- 
ticipation in the government, originated and confirmed 
the tyranny of the nobles, and that, which subjects 
the ecclesiastical to the civil authority, had occasion- 
ed and encouraged a spirit of disaffection towards the 
court of Rome, which was openly manifested by the 
people of Venice, after their quarrel with that court. 
He exaggerates this disaffection by stating acts of 
impiety which, as was reported, the Dutch had com- 
mitted with impunity at Friuli. He exclaims partic- 
ularly against their having caused a distinguished no- 
bleman of their country, named Renaud de Brede- 
rode, to be interred, though a calvinist, in the church 
des Servites, in Venice ; and here, without naming 
him, he casts a serere reproach upon father Paul, 
5 



50 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

who instigated the senate to commit this offence 
against the established religion. He expresses sur- 
prise that the people, whose reverence for the civil 
magistrate must be weakened by the contempt of re- 
ligion which they often witnessed, could patiently 
endure the cruel oppressions of their rulers. These 
oppressions he describes in detail; and from his des- 
cription, in which nothing is exaggerated, they ap- 
pear intolerable. He then shows that the honour and 
and lives, not less than the property of the people, 
are in the power of the great ; and that, devoted as 
the nation is to avarice, to vengeance and to love, if 
is not surprising that those in inferior stations should 
be oppressed by their superiors. In fine, he exam- 
ines the condition of the senate, of the provinces, of 
the army, and of the navy He observes that divis- 
ions exist in the senate, and does not scruple to say 
that he is acquainted with many disaffected nobles. 
He describes the desolation of the provinces, some 
laid waste by the Uscoques, and others exhausted by 
their exertions to render assistance. He declares 
that, in all Lombardy, there are not three officers to 
a garrison, who receive pay, and that the govern- 
ment retains its authority there solely because no one 
comes forward to wrest it from them. As to the ar- 
my, he gives a faithful account of the revolts that had 
occurred ; he states how the mutineers had been dis- 
persed, and observes that these were so numerous 
that the rest could be regarded only as a collection 
of miserable militia without courage, experience, or 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 51 

discipline. As to the navy, it had become the asylum 
of the infamous pirates of the Mediterranean, men 
destitute of character, and upon whose fidelity the 
republic could not rely one moment after they should 
have become strong enough to turn her own arms 
against herself. 

After having stated these particulars, with admira- 
ble beauty of language and force of expression, he 
enquires what opinion should be formed as to the fu- 
ture condition of this republic, its fortune and its du- 
ration \ and he proves, by the inferences which nat- 
urally flow from the facts he had established, that it is 
already in its decrepitude \ that its disorders are of 
such a nature, that no remedy could be effectual that 
should not entirely change its constitution. 

Having considered this exposition of the state of 
Venice, the council of Spain gave the marquis of Bed- 
mar permission, but sent him no order, to proceed. 
Yet as Nolot did not return, nothing could be done ; 
and the marquis could not console himself for having, 
in an affair of this nature, exposed himself to the ca- 
price of the duke of Ossuna, whom he ought long 
since to have thoroughly known. The delay, at this 
juncture, was important. After the Spaniards had 
taken Vercelli, the siege of Gradisca was pressed with 
great vigor, by the Venetians, and the council of 
Spain saw no mode of saving it, but by renewing 
propositions of peace. A project of a treaty, con- 
taining the principal articles, was therefore drawn up, 
in concert, at Madrid ; but the irregular conduct of 



52 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

the duke of Ossuna obliged the Venetians to revoke 
the powers of their ambassador, and transfer the ne- 
gotiation to France, where the death of marshal 
d'Ancre gave hope of a favorable issue. Peace was 
concluded, at Paris, on the Gth of September. 

The governor of Milan had a conference, soon af- 
ter, at Pavia, with the count de Bethune to make ar- 
rangements for the execution of the treaty, so far as 
regarded the duke of Savoy ; but, at the same time, 
this governor continued to harass the Venetians, and 
even took several little towns belonging to them, in 
Lombardy. They complained loudly of this con- 
duct, and made preparations to carry on the war 
more vigorously than ever. The marquis of Bed- 
mar therefore offered, in full senate, his congratula- 
tions upon the conclusion of peace, and engaged that 
whatever had been agreed upon should be performed* 
He was induced to take this step, not so much be- 
cause he had received orders frem Spain, as because 
he was desirous of effacing the unfavorable impres- 
sions, in relation to him, which the late transactions 
had made upon the senate. With this view, he per- 
formed the ceremony with all imaginable demonstra- 
tions of joy and friendship, and the Venetians, who de- 
sired nothing so much as what he promised, were so 
far deceived by his protestations that they agreed 
upon a suspension of arms. 

This suspension was a stroke of policy on the part 
of the Spaniards, and proved the masterly adroitness 
of their ambassador. The siege of Gradisca hacl 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 55 

been pressed so vigorously that the place could not 
possibly hold out a fortnight. Yet hostilities were 
not to cease until the end of two months, because 
this time had been judged necessary to exchange 
ratifications, and to make arrangements for the execu- 
tion of the treaties. It was necessary to prevent the 
surrender of Gradisca within this time ; the suspen- 
sion of arms placed it out of danger ; and the Span- 
iards, not having this motive to hasten the execution 
of the treaties, remained at full liberty to interpose 
all the delays they might imagine necessary to their 
designs. 

In effect, the duke of Ossuna, constrained by or- 
ders from Madrid, and the urgent representations of 
the pope, offered some time afterwards to restore the 
ships which he had taken ; but, as to the merchan- 
dise, he pretended he could not tell what had become 
of it. It was, nevertheless, at this moment, exposed 
to sale at Naples, under the eyes of the Venetian res- 
ident ; and the duke again sent a powerful fleet to 
cruise in the Adriatic. The senate having thought 
proper to complain of this to the marquis of Bedmar. 
he joined in their complaints, and was even louder 
than they. He declared that he could not explain 
nor justify the conduct of the duke ; that the king, 
their master, would not acknowledge it ; that, having 
received, during the period of his embassy at Venice, 
many favors, and much friendly treatment, he had 
but one subject of regret, which was, that the conduct 
of this viceroy had been imputed to his counsels ; that, 
5* 



54 



CONSPIRACY OF THE 



m fact, he had not the slightest participation in it ; 
that, little as they might know of the duke of Ossuna, 
they must he convinced that he was governed solely 
by his caprice ; and that, as to himself, they might 
judge of his disposition, by the pacific conduct of the 
governor of Milan, which, he was proud to say, had 
been in conformity with his advice. 

It was true that the governor faithfully observed the 
engagement to suspend hostile operations ; but yet he 
did not disarm his troops ; and that this conduct 
might appear less strange, he contrived to quarrel 
again with the duke of Savoy, alleging, as a pretext, 
that the troops disbanded by this prince, still remain- 
ed in the Pays de Vaud awaiting the entire execution 
of the treaties. Don Pedro, when required by the 
count de Bethune, refused to disarm, according to 
his promise at Pavia ; and he also persuaded the duke 
of Mantua to perform whatever depended upon him. 
The Count de Bethune, withdrawing upon their refu- 
sal, published a protest against their conduct ; and to 
this protest the most plausible reply was made that 
the marquis of Bedmar could invent. 

From what has been related, it will easily be seen 
that it was important to hasten the execution of the 
conspiracy, as it was difficult to maintain affairs, for 
a long lime, in the condition essential to its success. 
But the duke of Ossuna delayed to send back Nolot; 
and the ambassador, vexed and distressed beyond 
measure, having demanded an explanation of this de- 
lay, the cause was soon disclosed. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 55 

A short time after the captain was received into the 
service of the republic, the duke, desirous of gaining, 
from different sources, intelligence of the state of 
Venice, sent thither, as a spy, an Italian named Alex- 
ander Splnosa. This man, who was unknown, soon 
obtained employment, as did all adventurers who 
came to solicit it. He suspected that the duke con- 
templated some important enterprise, but did not sup- 
pose that the corsair was entrusted to manage it ; he 
doubted, however, whether this corsair was on such 
unfriendly terms with the duke as was generally sup- 
posed. After his arrival at Venice, he proposed to 
the viceroy to assassinate the captain ; the viceroy- 
declined the offer, alleging that the attempt would be 
attended with danger. Spinosa, who was not desti- 
tute of sagacity, and was well acquainted with the 
duke, concluded there must be some stronger reason 
for this refusal ; for he could not believe that he 
would hesitate to obtain revenge, at the risk of losing 
one of his men. The duke, however, charged him to 
observe the conduct of the corsair, either to prevent 
him from suspecting the truth, or because he belonged 
to that class of men who suspect every body, and was 
desirous of knowing whether the reports of Spinosa 
and the captain, in relation to the conduct of the lat- 
ter, would agree. 

To enable him to execute his commission, Spinosa 
associated with several Frenchmen, whom he had 
known at Naples, and who w r ere companions of the 
captain, at Venice. These men, who were in fact 



00 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

some of the conspirators, gave to the captain an ex- 
act account of the enquiries made by Spinosa, in rela- 
tion to him ; and they, moreover, discovered that this 
spy was himself concerting some plot, and endeavoring 
to engage men for the service of the duke of Ossuna. 

The captain felt indignant that the duke distrusted 
him ; but he was not surprised at it ; nevertheless he 
considered that, if Spinosa should continue his in- 
trigue, without coming to an understanding with him, 
he would weaken their party by dividing it ; and 
that, on his part, he could not condescend to solicit 
the confidence of a man who was evidently a spy up- 
on his conduct. 

The marquis of Bedmar and Renault concluded 
also that this difficulty should be immediately remov- 
ed, and after mature deliberation they decided, that 
nothing could ensure their own safety, but the sacri- 
fice of Spinosa. But he was a man who would sell 
his life dearly, should they attempt to assassinate him ; 
the business he had engaged in obliged him to be al- 
ways on his guard ; and the captain, after considering 
and rejecting every other course, was at length oblig- 
ed to accuse him to the council of Ten, as a spy of 
the duke of Ossuna. The Frenchmen, with whom 
he had associated, testified so judiciously against 
him, that he was arrested, and the same day privately 
executed. All that he advanced against the corsair 
made no impression on the minds of the judges, be- 
cause the latter was his accuser, and he could prove 
nothing that he asserted. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VEJMICE. 5/ 

This affair greatly increased the confidence which 
the Venetians had reposed in the captain ; but still it 
disquieted the marquis of Bedmar, because it admon- 
ed the Venetians to observe more closely the conduct 
of the foreigners in their service. 

The duke of Ossuna had just heard of the death 
of Spinosa, when Nolot arrived at Naples. He was 
at no loss to divine the author. The event displeas- 
ed him ; be was offended that the marquis of Bed- 
mar sent him no account of it ; and the various sus- 
picions which arose in his mind prevented him from 
forming any definite resolution. 

The troops of Lievestein having, in the mean time, 
again mutinied, they were, in the beginning of Feb- 
ruary, marched, by the order of the senate, to the 
Lazaretto, two miles from Venice. The marquis of 
Bedmar, fearing they might themselves, in order to 
obtain their pay, adjust their quarrel with the repub- 
lic, and would then be compelled to leave the coun- 
try, persuaded them, by means of their officers, not 
to receive the sum which was at first offered. The 
conspirators, that they might have it in their power 
to make use of these troops while they remained in 
the vicinity, despatched a courier to Nolot, request- 
ing him to state to the viceroy, that, for a month from 
that time, they should have near five thousand men 
at their command. Nolot discharged his duty ; but 
the viceroy, who had not yet digested his anger, 
amused him so long that, after a suspense of six 
weeks, the officers, fearing that their soldiers, who 



58 



CONSPIRACY OF THE 



suffered much, would make an agreement themselves, 
concluded an arrangement, with the consent of the 
conspirators, who saw no means of preventing it. 

Ten days afterwards, Nolot arrived from Naples, 
with the determination of the duke of Ossuna. It 
was such as they desired, but was addressed to Rob- 
ert Brulard, one of the associates of the captain. The 
ambassador and the captain, rejoicing to be released 
from their perplexity, did not deign to notice this in- 
sult. The viceroy stated that he was ready, when- 
ever they should direct, to send barks, brigantines, 
and other small vessels, adapted to the harbors and 
canals of Venice, and capable of carrying six thou- 
sand men if necessary. Nolot had seen the troops 
and the vessel all prepared to depart ; and the cap- 
tain caused the harbors and canals, which led to St. 
Marks, to be sounded. As he had, from his office, 
many mariners at his command, they could, without 
suspicion, visit these harbors and canals, as often as 
they pleased, and take all their dimensions with ex- 
actness. 

Nothing now remained but to prevent the depar- 
ture of the troops of Lievestein. For this purpose, 
money was liberally dispersed, and the inclemency 
of the season served as a pretext for their delay. 
The greater number still remained at the lazaretto, 
and those who had departed before the arrival of No- 
lot, stopped at places near to Venice. 

Renault and the captain, finding their duties too 
arduous, resolved to choose, for assistants, eighteen 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 59 

others, who should be discreet, courageous, and wor- 
thy of entire confidence. They selected the nine 
whom Renault had engaged at Friuli, and the most 
distinguished among those who had followed the cor- 
sair from Naples. Of these, five were captains of 
vessels, like himself ; Vincent Robert of Marseilles, 
Laurent Nolot, and Robert Brulard, who have been 
already mentioned ; the two last, and another Bru- 
lard, named Laurent, were from Franche-compte ; 
another, from Provence, named Antoine Jaffier; two 
brothers, from Lorraine, named Charles and John 
Boleau, and and an Italian, John Rizzardo, all three 
well acquainted with the management of the petard ; 
and a Frenchman called Langlade, who was consid- 
ered the most skilful artificer of fire-works that ever 
lived. His skill was so well known that he had ob- 
tained permission to work at his business at the arse- 
nal ; by this means, the petardiers, his comrades, 
were freely allowed to enter the arsenal, as well as 
two others, named Villa Mezzana and Retrosi, who 
had been employed there before, and who were of 
the number that Renault had engaged. 

These six persons drew such an exact plan of the 
arsenal, that those, who had never seen it, could delib- 
erate concerning it, as well as those who had built it. 
In this they were much assisted by two officers of the 
arsenal, whom the captain had gained to his party. 
They appeared to him to be dissatisfied with their 
employment, to be ready to embark in such a project, 
should it promise to promote their interest, and dis- 



60 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

posed to adhere faithfully to whatever engagements 
they might make. The event proved that he had 
judged correctly. The flattery which he freely ad- 
ministered, accompanied occasionally by a considera- 
ble number of Spanish pistoles, induced them to en- 
gage to perform whatever he should command. 

Langlade and the two officers lodged in the arse- 
nal. Bride, Brainville, and Laurent Brulard resided 
with Renault, at the house of the French ambassador. 
The three petardiers lived with the marquis of Bed- 
mar, who supplied them with powder and other nec- 
essary materials and instruments, but had no inter- 
course with them. They had already made more 
petards and fire-works than were necessary, and the 
ambassador's house w r as so full that no others could 
lodge there. The captain lived in his own house 
and alone, that suspicion might not be excited ; and 
the others he placed at the house of the courtesan, 
where he and Renault became acquainted with each 
other. The esteem and friendship which succeeded 
to the love they had felt for her, but still more the 
knowledge they had obtained of her adventures, per- 
suaded them that they could not make a better se- 
lection. 

This courtesan was from one of the Greek Islands 
of the Archipelago, and her family held as high a 
rank as any, not being Venetian, could hold in a coun- 
try under the dominion of Venice. The person sent 
there as governor, by the republic, Mattering her with 
high expectations, seduced her, and afterwards, when 



SPANIARDS AGAINST TENICE. 



61 



her father required the fulfilments of his promise, he 
caused him to be assassinated. The daughter re- 
paired to Venice to demand the punishment of the 
murderer, but she obtained no redress ; and having, 
in prosecuting her suit, expended all the property she 
possessed, her beauty relieved her from the misery it 
occasioned. No passion is so violent as the resent- 
ment of a person compelled to descend from a re- 
spectable to a degraded rank. The project of her 
two friends gave her inexpressible pleasure, and she 
was willing to risk every thing to aid it. She rented 
one of the largest houses in Venice ; and, under the 
pretext of making some alterations, she forbore to 
remove her furniture into it, and thus retained, with- 
out exciting suspicion, the one she before occupied, 
and which was not far distant. 

In these two houses, eleven of the principal con- 
spirators resided, for near six months. As she was 
visited by all the genteel Venetians and foreigners, 
and as this crowd of people, flocking to her house, 
might lead to the discovery of her inmates, she feign- 
ed an excuse to prevent these visits. They, who 
know with what civility women of her character are 
treated in Italy, will readily believe that her house 
was afterwards visited by none but such as went 
thither on business. The conspirators left it in the 
night only, and their meetings were held during the 
day. 

At these meetings, Renault and the captain pro- 
posed to the conspirators, the measures which had 
6 



62 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

been agreed upon with marquis of Bedmar, that their 
opinions might be obtained and the means of execut- 
ing them be devised. Whenever it was necessary 
to visit the marquis, they repaired to his house, with 
all the circumspection required in a country like this, 
and at a time when the houses of ambassadors, and 
particularly his, were watched as though they were 
the abode of enemies. It had long been determined 
that it was necessary to have a thousand soldiers in 
the city, before the execution of their plot ; but as it 
might occasion suspicion should all bring arms, the 
marquis had procured them for more than five hun- 
dred. As the gondolas of ambassadors, from what- 
ever quarter they come, are not visited, he had found 
it easy to do this : and nothing was now wanting but 
an opportunity to introduce the requisite number of 
men without exciting observation. 

About this time, the doge Donato died, and Anto- 
nio Priuli, who was then at Friuli to enforce the exe- 
cution of the treaties, was elected in his stead. The 
admiral was ordered to repair thither, with his fleet, 
and escort him to Venice. The grand chancellor, 
and the secretaries of state, were to proceed in ad- 
vance, and bear to him the ducal bonnet. Twelve 
of the principal senators were to follow, each in an 
armed brigantine magnificently decorated, and accom- 
panied by a splendid suite ; and the senate, in a 
body, were to meet him at sea, and conduct him, 
with all this retinue, to the city. 

As it had seldom happened that those who wero 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 

elected to the office of doge, were, at the time, ab- 
sent from the city, this unusual pomp attracted to it a 
large number of people. The marquis of Bedmar, 
who anticipated this when he heard of the election ot 
Priuli, sent Nolot again to Naples, directing him to 
insist on the immediate departure of the duke of Os- 
suna. To remove all excuse for delay, the captain 
was directed to send to the duke an exact plan of the 
enterprise, and to give him an account of all that 
occurred at Venice, during the former absence of 
Nolot. The corsair did even more than he was di- 
rected. Willing to humour the caprice of the vice- 
roy, and to show that they felt no dissatisfaction at 
his conduct, he concluded his despatch with these 
words. — " I attribute the long delay of Nolot, at Na- 
ples, to his remissnes ; for I do not doubt that, had 
he represented things truly, your excellency would 
have hastened his return. He doubtless asked for 
money, or made some other demand of that nature, 
but he had express orders to the contrary ; and 1 
now engage to retain Venice in my power six months, 
should not the grand fleet of your excellency arrive 
sooner, provided you send me the brigantines, and 
the six thousand men, immediately after Nolot reach- 
es Naples." This letter bears date the 11th of April, 
the day Nolot left Venice. 

In the mean time, Renault assembled, at Venice, 
all the officers of the troops he had engaged, that they 
might gain such a knowledge of the city as to be able 
to execute the enterprise in the night. Before they 



64 



CONSPIRACY OF THE 



came, they designated Individually a thousand of the 
Dutch troops, who were directed to hold themselves 
in readiness to march at a day's notice ; and to pre- 
vent the absence of these men from being remarked, 
they were selected, in equal proportions, from the va- 
rious posts, where those troops were stationed. To 
lodge these troops, each of the officers engaged as 
many apartments as he could without exciting suspi- 
cion ; the landlords were told that these apartments 
were engaged for foreigners, who were desirous of 
witnessing the approaching celebration. The officers 
themselves lodged at the houses of courtezans, where, 
paying liberally, they were more effectually conceal- 
ed than they could have been in any other place. 

Nothing now remained but to arrange the plan of 
execution ; and the marquis of Bedmar, Renault, 
and the captain, conferring together, determined up- 
on the following. 

"As soon as it shall be dark, that portion of the 
thousand soldiers, who shall have come to the city 
without arms, shall repair to the residence of the am- 
bassador, where arms will be delivered to them. 
Five hundred shall then proceed to the square of St. 
Marks, where the captain will meet, them ; the great- 
er part of the other five hundred will go to the neigh- 
bourhood of the arsenal, where they will be joined by 
Renault, and the remainder will take possession of all 
the gondolas and boats they can find, near the bridge 
of Rialto, and proceed, with all possible haste, to 
bring from the lazaretto about one thousand soldiers 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 



65 



of Lievestein's regiment. While these are absent, 
those who remain will conduct themselves as peace- 
ably as possible, that they may not, by producing 
commotion, be obliged to act, until the troops shall 
have arrived from the lazaretto. 

"If nothing occurs, until these troops shall have 
arrived at the square of St. Marks, to make it neces- 
sary for the conspirators to declare themselves, the 
captain shall take five hundred of them, and shall 
place them, with the five hundred already there, un- 
der the command of the serjeant major Durand. 
These thousand men shall then be drawn up in order 
of battle. The captain, with two hundred men, shall 
take possession of the ducal palace, and especially of 
the arms deposited there, that he may supply such of 
his own troops as shall be destitute, and prevent the 
Venetians from using them. A hundred others, un- 
der Bride, shall take possession of La Seeque ; and 
a hundred others, under Brainville, of the palace of 
the procurator, with the assistance of men, who will, 
during the day, be secretly introduced into the bel- 
frey or tower. These hundred last mentioned shall 
remain in the belfrey, until the enterprise is accom- 
plished, to prevent the sounding of the alarm bell. 
Other detachments shall keep guard at the entrance 
of all the streets that lead from the square. Artille- 
ry must be placed in positions to enfilade these 
streets ; and until cannon can be obtained from the 
arsenal, they must be taken from the galley of the 
council of ten, which is near the spot, and may be 
6* 



C6 CONSPIRACY OF TM£ 

easily seized. All who are found in the places of 
which possession shall be gained, and where guards 
shall be posted, shall be put to the sword. During 
these operations around the square, the scrjeant ma- 
jor will remain in the middle, with the rest of the 
troops drawn up in order of battle. And all these 
things must be done with as little noise and disturb- 
ance as possible. 

" The conspirators will then openly proceed to force, 
with petards, the gate of the arsenal. At this signal, 
the eight conspirators, who have drawn the plan of 
it, and who will be within, shall, with the artificial 
fire works prepared for the purpose, set fire to it, in 
different places, and put the principal officers to the 
sword* This they may easily do, in the confusion 
which the petards and the fire will occasion, especial- 
ly as these officers will have no suspicion of their 
purpose. They will join Renault as soon as he shall 
have gained admittance, and every person belonging 
to the arsenal shall immediately be killed. The sol- 
diers will then convey the cannon to the places where 
they can be used with most effect, particularly to the 
Arena de Mari, to the Fontego de Tedeschi, to 
the salt magazines, to the belfrey of the procurator's 
palace, to the bridge of Rialto, and to other elevated 
places, from which they may fire on the city, and de- 
stroy it, should resistance be made. 

11 Whilst Renault is forcing the gate of the arsenal, 
the captain will break into the prison of St. Marks, 
and arm the prisoners. The principal senators must 



- 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 67 

be killed ; and persons, engaged for the purpose, 
will set fire to at least forty places in the city, as dis- 
tant as possible from each other, in order to increase 
the confusion. 

" In the mean time, the Spaniards despatched by 
the duke of Ossuna, having heard the signal, which 
will have been given on becoming masters of the ar- 
senal, will debark at the square of St. Marks, and in- 
stantly proceed, in detachments, to different quarters 
of the city, under the command of the other nine 
leaders of the conspiracy. 

"Every one shall cry liberty, liberty ; and when all 
these orders are executed, the city shall be given up 
to pillage : but foreigners shall be respected ; from 
them nothing shall be taken, under pain of death, and 
every one shall be spared who ceases to resist." 

Nolot, on arriving at Naples, found every thing in 
such a state of preparation, that the six thousand men 
were embarked the next day, under the command of 
an Englishman of the name of Haillot. To avoid 
suspicion the duke of Ossuna directed that his large 
ships should make a long circuit ; but he sent Haillot 
and the brigantines by the shortest route. On the 
second day of their voyage, these brigantines were 
attacked by a squadron of corsairs from Barbary. 
As they were constructed for the transport of troops, 
and were not fitted to engage in a regular action, 
they suffered much from the artillery of the Barba- 
rians, whose brigantines were better armed, and 
could be managed with more ease. But though the 



68 « o.VSPIRACY OF THE 

men on board the Neapolitan vessels were too nu- 
merous to act with regularity and freedom, yet as 
they were all Spaniards, selected for the occasion, 
they treated so harshly such of the enemy as they 
could grapple with, that these corsairs would proba- 
bly have had cause to regret having encountered 
them, had not a furious storm, occurring to the heat 
of the engagement, dispersed both fleets. That of 
the duke of Ossuna received so much damage that it 
could not again venture to sea, for some time. 

The news of this disaster convinced the marquis 
of Bedmar that he could not disturb the approaching 
festivities. He therefore participated in them, dis- 
playing more magnificence than any other person. 
He declared, in the senate, when congratulating the 
new doge upon his elevation, that the lively joy he 
experienced arose from his confidence that his high- 
ness would retain, on the throne, that earnest desire 
for the execution of the treaty of peace, which he had 
lately expressed at Friuli. 

On leaving the senate, he sent for Renault and the 
captain. Shall the enterprise, he asked them, be 
abandoned ? They replied, that not only w r ere they 
unwilling to abandon it, but their associates appear- 
ed no more disheartened by the disaster of the fleet, 
than if it had arrived safe in port ; and that they were 
all disposed to take the necessary means to preserve 
affairs in their present condition, until circumstances 
should become more favorable. The ambassador, 
who trembled when he asked the question, embraced 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 69 

them, on heating this reply, with tears of joy. He 
said to them, with a gaiety and animation which would 
have inspired the timid with boldness, and revived 
the confidence of the most terrified, that great rever- 
ses, which, in common affairs, might divert men from 
their purposes, are but natural incidents in extraordi- 
nary enterprises ; that they test the strength of the 
mind ; and that then only ought a man to consider 
himself capable of accomplishing a difficult enterprise, 
when he has been once defeated, and preserved his 
equanimity and firmness. 

It was finally determined, by the marquis and his 
two confidents, that the execution of their project 
should be deferred until the feast of Ascension, which 
was near, and was, at that period, the most solemn 
festival celebrated at Venice ; that, in the meantime, 
the troops should be kept in the places they then oc- 
cupied, and all the comforts and conveniences they 
could desire should be furnished them ; that, for this 
purpose, money should be freely distributed among 
the principal officers : that, of the three hundred 
who had repaired to Venice, the most distinguished 
should be detained, as hostages for the fidelity of the 
rest, and the others sent back, as well to retain the 
soldiers in their duty, as to avoid exciting suspicion, 
by lessening the number of officers in the city ; that 
the time of those who remained should be occupied 
in some agreeable manner, to prevent them from be- 
ing wearied by waiting, and from reflecting too much 
on the present state of affairs ; that the twenty prin- 



1 



70 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

cipal conspirators should attentively observe their 
conduct ; and that, to induce the republic to retain 
the troops of Lievestein, and to defer dismissing those 
of Nassau, the governor of Milan, and the viceroy of 
Naples, should delay carrying the treaties into exe- 
cution. 

Every pretext, which human ingenuity could de- 
vise, was invented by the marquis of Bedmar, and 
put in practice by don Pedro and the duke of Ossuna ; 
nevertheless, they were constantly impelled, howev* 
er contrary it might have been to their inclinations, 
to take steps which led to peace. The council of 
Spain dared hazard nothing upon the uncertain pros- 
pect of the success of the conspiracy ; and France, 
desirous of maintaining the treaty of Paris, persuad- 
ed the Venetians te consent that the duke of Savoy 
should dismiss the troops, who, remaining in the 
Pays de Vaud, afforded to don Pedro a pretext for 
his delays. This obstacle removed, the marquis of 
Bedmar, in hope of preventing this prince from re- 
storing the places he had taken in Montferrat, circu- 
lated a report that, as soon as the duke of Mantau 
should regain possession, he would enter into some 
arrangement with the Spaniards. 

At the same time, don Pedro quarrelled, without 
cause, with a minister from Savoy, who had come to 
Milan with the French ambassadors, and command- 
ed him to quit the city. The duke, irritated by this 
insult, directed them to repair to Savoy, and counter- 
manded the orders he had given to evacuate the 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 71 

places he occupied ; but, convinced by the ambassa- 
dors that he had fallen into the snare set for him by 
don Pedro, he instantly surrendered those places. So 
great was the astonishment of don Pedro, when he 
heard of this, that he could not forbear expressing it 
in public. He felt it to be necessary te give up also 
his prisoners, and the places of least importance ; 
but, as to restoring Vercelli, the important point, he 
made such unreasonable objections, that the council 
of Spain threatened to recal him, before the usual pe- 
riod. At first, he declared that it would be disgrace- 
ful for him to restore Vercelli, whilst the French am- 
bassadors remained at Milan, for the purpose, as it 
seemed, of compelling him to do it. They quitted 
that city. He then insisted that the duke of Savoy 
should previously restore certain lands, which belong- 
ed to ministers of Mantua. These lands were re- 
stored ; yet don Pedro still kept possession of Ver- 
celli. At length, the king of France, who wished to 
conclude a marriage between Madam Christiana, 
his sister, and the prince of Piedmont, having expres- 
sed himself plainly and decisively on this subject, 
don Pedro began to sendoffthe munitions of war and 
the artillery, but proceeded with all possible slowness. 
The marquis of Bedmar having requested him to 
use even less despatch, he resorted to the expedient 
of requiring additional assurances, from the duke^of 
Savoy, in favor of the duke of Mantua ; but the 
ministers of Mantua, wearied by so many delays, de- 
clared, in a public manifesto, that they did not desiro 
these assurances. 






7% CONSPIRACY OF THE 

Whatever chagrin this declaration occasioned to 
the Marquis of Bedmar, the conduct of the duke of 
Ossuna occasioned still greater. This duke, haras- 
sed by the incessant complaints of the Venetians, that 
he continued to disturb the navigation of the gulf, 
and unable to devise any other new pretence to justi- 
fy himself, made answer, that he should pursue the 
same measures so long as the Venetians retained in 
their service the most inveterate enemies of the king 
his master. The feelings of the marquis, on hearing 
this reply of the duke, may be easily imagined, when 
it is recollected what pains he had taken to detain in 
the city the troops from Holland, to whom the duke 
alluded. He had no doubt that the senate, who were 
desirous of peace, at any price, would, to deprive the 
viceroy of all excuse, immediately dismiss them ; but 
the event was again at variance with the well-founded 
anticipation of the marquis. 

Some demon, favorable to the extravagances of the 
duke of Ossuna, impelled the Venetians to pursue a 
course directly contrary to their inclinations and their 
interest. It was suggested to the senate, that the re- 
public had already given too many proofs of its desire 
for peace ; that, it was this that encouraged the Span- 
iards to delay the execution of the treaties ; that, if 
the last demand of the viceroy were granted, he 
would be led to think they would assent to any thing ; 
and that, instead of dismissing these troops, it was 
necessary to retain in service even the regiment of 
Lievestein, until the complete execution of the treaties. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 73 

The pleasure which this resolution gave to the 
marquis of Bedmar was disturbed by the discovery 
of the plot at Crema. Alfier, the officer from Pro- 
vence, and the Italian captain, who were stationed 
there, and had been engaged in the conspiracy, hav- 
ing quarrelled at play, a duel was the consequence, 
in which the captain was mortally wounded. Before 
he expired, he, to relieve his conscience, made a full 
disclosure to the Venetian commander. Alfier, an- 
ticipating this, absconded immediately after wound- 
ing his adversary, taking with him all his accomplices 
whom he could apprize of their danger. The re- 
mainder, among whom was the French lieutenant, 
who was the principal, were arrested ; but as Re- 
nault had made himself known merely as an agent 
from Milan, and as they knew nothing more concern- 
ing him, don Pedro only was implicated by the dis- 
closure. 

Eight days afterwards, the sergeant major, who 
had agreed to deliver up Marano to the conspirators, 
having kept back, for his own emolument, a part of 
the perquisites of a servant of the purveyor, and of a 
pensioner of the republic, they, irritated by the loss, 
entered his house in his absence, broke open his 
trunks, and carried away his money and papers. 
Among these were letters on the subject of the con- 
spiracy. As he knew only the agent of the duke of 
Ossuna, who had negotiated with him, he would have 
accused none but the duke ; but he pursued a more 
honorable course. In the midst of torments, he do 
7 



I 



74 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

clared that he was well convinced he should not be 
permitted to escape, and that he had rather leave his 
accomplices, if he had any, in a condition to avenge 
his death, than, by making disclosures, to ruin them 
without any advantage to himself. Thanks to God 
were offered publicly in Venice, on occasion of these 
two discoveries. The success of the enterprise was, 
however, rendered more certain than before. The 
senate supposed they had, at length, ascertained the 
secret cause of the irregular conduct of the Span- 
iards ; and, after these two projects had failed, they 
imagined that all danger was over, and no longer 
doubted the complete fulfilment of the treaties. 

The time assigned for the execution of the enter- 
prise was now near. From the Sunday preceding 
the feast of Ascension to the day of Pentecost, one 
of the most celebrated fairs in the world, was, at that 
period, held at Venice. The crowd of merchants, 
who then visited the city, did not increase the difficul- 
ty of surprising it ; on the contrary, it afforded to 
the body of one thousand soldiers, an opportunity of 
entering with the merchants, and of procuring lodg- 
ings without being remarked. They found it easy to 
leave the Venetian towns where they were posted, 
because, for several months, those most anxious to 
return to their native country had, from time to time, 
been dismissed ; and the magistrates, whose duty it 
was to impose regulations, neglected to interfere, be- 
cause the republic paid nothing for their services. As 
the departure of so many at once might occasion 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE, 75 

alarm, most of them declared that they were going to 
the fair at Venice. They changed their dress, assum- 
ing the guise of various occupations. To avoid all 
appearance of concert, individuals, who spoke differ- 
ent languages, took lodgings together, and all behav- 
ed as though they had no acquaintance with each 
other. 

The five hundred Spaniards who were to have ex- 
ecuted the plot at Crema, which had been discovered, 
were sent, by don Pedro, to the vicinity of Brescia, 
with orders, on receiving intelligence of the success 
of the conspiracy, to take possession of that city, in 
which they were to be assisted by the party formed 
there by the lieutenant of the count of Nassau, and 
yet subsisting. The leader of these Spaniards was 
charged to conduct them directly to Venice, the in- 
stant he received orders from Renault. 

The Venetian fleet had sailed to Dalmatia, but so 
incessant were the movements of the duke of Ossuna, 
that it was kept in constant readiness to put out to 
sea. The captain sent to the officers, who, in his ab- 
sence, commanded his twelve vessels, powerful fire- 
works, to be secretly distributed to the other vessels 
of the fleet, just before the time appointed for the ex- 
ecution of the enterprise. As no one distrusted these 
officers, it was easy for them to do this without being 
discovered or even suspected. He gave orders that 
they should measure the matches so exactly, that, if 
possible, all might explode at the same moment ; that 
if any vessel should be uninjured by them, they should 



76 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

attack, and capture or sink her ; that they should 
then repair immediately to Venice, and be in readi- 
ness to perform whatever might be directed, but 
should wait for further orders before they attempted 
any thing. The Sunday before the feast of Ascen- 
sion, being the first day of the fair, was appointed for 
the execution of the enterprise. 

The little squadron of the duke of Ossuna was this 
time so fortunate as to arrive, without any accident, 
within six miles of Venice. To prevent suspicion, it 
sailed in two divisions, one at a little distance from 
the other. The largest was composed of boats like 
those of fishermen ; the other of brigantines similar 
to those of the corsairs. On Saturday morning, Hail- 
lot was commanded to leave his station the next day, 
at such time as would enable him to approach within 
sight of Venice between day -light and dark ; to hoist 
the standard of St. Marks, and take possession of sev- 
eral little islands near which he must necessarily pass, 
which were entirely defenceless, and from which in- 
formation might be sent of his arrival ; ho was then 
to present himself boldly before the castles of Sido 
and Malamaco, which were destitute of garrisons, and 
between which he could pass without injury ; on giv- 
ing notice, by despatching a boat, of his arrival there, 
pilots were to be sent to him lest he should run upon 
the banks or rocks which render the entrance of the 
port difficult to strangers. 

As the whole of the next day must be occupied in 
preparing for the business of the evening, Renault and 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 77 

the captain considered it advisable to confer, for the 
last time, with their companions ; and it was agreed 
that Renault should state to them the situation of af- 
fairs, and give them the necessary directions. Though 
great exertions were made, all could not be collected 
until near night. There were present, at this meet- 
ing, the three Frenchmen who lodged with Renault, 
the lieutenant of the count of Nassau, the three pe- 
tardieis, Langlade, the two officers of the arsenal, 
the captain and the lieutenant who had formerly been 
stationed there, Nolot, the two Brulards, Jaffier, Rob- 
ert, Theodore the Dutchman, the Savoyard who was 
present at the assault of Geneva, and Revellido the 
engineer. These twenty persons, with Renault and 
the captain, having shut themselves up, with all the 
precautions usual at such meetings, in the most se- 
cluded apartment in the house of the courtezan, the 
latter addressed the assembly. 

He began by giving a plain and full account of the 
present state of affairs ; of the forces of the republic, 
and of their own ; of the disposition of the city and 
of the fleet; of the preparations of don Pedro and of 
the duke of Ossuna ; of the arms and other munitions 
of war deposited at the house of the Spanish ambas- 
sador ; of his private understandings with members of 
the senate and many of the nobility ; and, in fine, of 
the precise information they had obtained of whatever 
was necessary to be known. After having gained 
the confidence of his hearers by this detail, which 

they themselves knew to be correct, of arrangements 
7* 



78 



CONSPIRACY OF THE 



effected almost as much by their efforts as his own, 
he proceeded as follows : 

" Such, my companions, are the means destined 
to conduct you to the glory you so ardently seek. 
Every one of you can judge whether ll)2y may be 
relied on, and are sufficient. The plans we have 
devised will, beyond all question, enable us to intro- 
duce ten thousand soldiers into a city which does not 
contain two hundred to oppose us ; the plunder of 
this city will attract to our party all the foreigners 
whom curiosity or traffic has brought hither ; and I 
inhabitants themselves, the instant they perceive they 
can do it with safety, will assist us to plunder the 
nobles who have plundered them so often. The best 
vessels of the fleet are ours, and the rest carry with- 
in them, at this moment, the means of their own des- 
truction. The arsenal, that famous arsenal, the won- 
der of Europe and the terror of Asia, is even now al- 
most in our power. The nine brave men, who now 
hear me, and who, for six months past, could have 
delivered it to us at a word, have taken such addition- 
al precautions during the delay that has taken place, 
that they are willing to answer, with their lives, for 
its surrender. Even should we not have the troops 
at the lazaretto, nor those on the main land, nor the 
little fleet of Haillot to support us, nor the five hun- 
dred men promised by don Pedro, nor the twenty 
Venetian vessels of our comrade, nor the large ves- 
sels of the duke of Ossuna, nor the Spanish army of 
Lombardy, yet our recent understandings and our 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 79 

thousand soldiers would be amply sufficient for our 
purpose. And all the different means, which I have- 
just enumerated, are disposed in such manner that 
any one may fail us, and the others be left in a state 
to act with undiminished efficiency. All are distinct 
and independent ; each may aid, but cannot injure, 
the others. It is hardly possible that all should fail us, 
and any one is sufficient to ensure success. 

" And if, after taking all the precautions which hu- 
man wisdom can suggest, we may anticipate what 
success fortune will award us, can we have proofs of 
her favor more explicit than those we have already 
received ? Yes, my friends, they certainly partake of 
the miraculous. In all history, no instance can be 
found in which an enterprise of this kind has been 
partly revealed without being completely defeated. 
Ours has met with five unfavorable incidents, the 
least of which was sufficient, apparently, to ruin it. 
Who could have thought that the affair of Spinosa, 
whose object was the same as ours, would not have 
involved us in ruin ? that the disbanding of the troops 
of Lievestein, who were entirely devoted to us, would 
not have been the means of disclosing our secret ? 
that the dispersion of the little fleet would not have 
deranged all our projects and exposed us to new and 
perplexing inconveniences ? that the discovery of the 
plot at Crema, and of that at Marano, would not have 
led necessarily to the discovery of the whole conspi- 
racy ? And yet all these incidents have had no unfa- 
vorable result. No one has pursued the track 



80 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

which would have led him to us ; and our enemies 
have derived no advantage from the glimmering 
light they afforded. Never did such profound re- 
pose precede an explosion so terrible. The senate, 
we are positively assured, the senate sleeps in perfect 
security. Destiny, auspicious to us, has blinded the 
most penetrating, encouraged the most timid, lulled 
the most suspicious, confounded the most subtle. 
We live yet, my dear friends, we are even stronger 
than before these disasters ; they have served only 
to prove our firmness. We live ; and our lives shall 
soon be fatal to the tyrants of this city. 

" Can a success so extraordinary, so constant, bo 
the effect of natural causes ? May we not presume 
that it is vouchsafed to us by some power that con- 
trols human affairs ? And in truth, my companions, 
what is there upon the earth that is worthy the pro- 
tection of heaven, if our enterprise is not ? It is our 
purpose to overthrow the most detestable of all gov- 
ernments ; to secure to the poor subjects of this state 
the enjoyment of their property, of which, should we 
not interfere, the avarice of the nobles would for- 
ever deprive them ; to preserve the honor of every 
female endowed with charms to fascinate, who would 
otherwise be subject to their lawless caprice ; to give 
safety to an infinite uumbcr of miserable beings whom 
their cruelty would sacrifice for the slightest offences ; 
in a word, to punish the most guilty of men, blackened 
by crimes which nature abhors, and polluted by vices 
which modestv dares not name. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 81 

"Let us not hesitate, then, seizing the sword with 
one hand and the torch with the other, to exterminate 
these wretches. And when we see those palaces 
where blasphemy sits enthroned, burning with the 
fire rather of heaven than of earth ; when we see 
those tribunals which are stained with the tears of 
the innocent, consumed by devouring flames ; the 
enraged soldier withdrawing his bloody sword from 
the bosom of the wicked ; death every where pres- 
ent ; and the horrible spectacles which, in the dark- 
ness of night, the unbridled fury of soldiers may pre- 
sent, let us then remember, my friends, that no good 
is vouchsafed unmixed to man ; that the most lauda- 
ble actions produce intense suffering ; and, in fine, 
that the tumult of the approaching night is the only 
means of restoring, and forever, the reign of peace, 
innocence and freedom, in that unhappy city where 
furious passions have spread desolation and misery." 

This address was heard by the whole assembly 
with that approbation which men generally entertain 
for sentiments congenial with their own. Neverthe- 
less Renault, who observed the countenances of the 
audience, remarked that Jaffier, one of the best friends 
of the captain, had, after listening attentively, sudden- 
ly displayed extreme anxiety, which he endeavored 
in vain to conceal ; and that, after the close of the 
address, there still remained upon his countenance 
marks of sadness and terror, indicating emotions of 
horror. Renault spoke of it to the captain, Who at 
first did not think it. worthy of attention j but, having 



82 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

observed Jaffier a few moments, he began to enter- 
tain some suspicions and doubts. Renault, who per- 
fectly understood the relations and connection be- 
tween the most secret emotions and the slightest 
outward signs, after further observation and reflec- 
tion, declared explicitly to the captain, that, in his 
opinion, Jaffier was not to be trusted. 

The captain, who knew Jaffier to be one of the 
bravest of men, pronounced this opinion to be unwar- 
ranted and precipitate ; but Renault, convinced of 
its correctness, explained so forcibly the reasons in 
support of it, that, if they did not make the same live- 
ly impression on the mind of the captain, he yet 
thought that his conduct ought to be attentively ob- 
served. He, however, suggested to Renault that, 
even if Jaffier were wavering; which he could not be- 
lieve, there would not be time, before the evening of 
the next day, for him to deliberate and to form the 
resolution to betray them ; at any rate, under present 
circumstances, it was impossible to change their 
measures, and they must unavoidably incur the haz- 
ard which he apprehended. Renault replied, that 
there was one sure way of avoiding it, which was to 
poniard Jaffier that very evening. For a short time, 
the captain was silent ; at length he observed, that 
he could not resolve to sacrifice his best friend, on a 
mere suspicion ; that this summary execution might 
have many injurious consequences ; that he feared it 
would irritate and disafFect their companions, who 
might imagine their leader claimed despotic power 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE, S3 

over them, even that of life and death ; that it would 
be difficult to convince them of the necessity of sac- 
rificing Jaffier as clearly as they themselves felt it, 
and every conspirator, not perceiving it, would feel 
that his own life was in danger, whenever a similar 
suspicion should enter into the minds of their chiefs ; 
that when the thoughts of men are agitated by their 
rapid approach to the execution of a perilous under- 
taking, a mere trifle is sufficient to change their 
course ; and that, in such a predicament, the slight- 
est alteration is of great importance, for none but 
sudden and violent measures can then be adopted ; 
that, should Jaffier be poniarded, and the manner in 
which he had disappeared be concealed, it was still 
more to be feared that his associates would believe 
that he had been detected, had fled, was a prisoner 
or a traitor ; and that, whatever pretext should be 
invented, his absence, when the enterprise, in which 
so important a part had been assigned to him, was on 
the point of execution, must give rise to discouraging 
reflections. 

While Renault was listening to the discourse of 
the captain, one of their men came to them, bringing 
an order of the senate, which hud just been received, 
that all those attached to the fleet should go on board 
the next morning. At the same time, a letter was 
received from the ambassador, explaining the reason 
of this order. The duke of Ossuna had not been 
able to leave Venice to join his fleet without the 
knowledge of the spies of the republic ; but as he 



84 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

had given orders that, until a certain time, no person 
should be permitted to depart for Venice, and that 
all letters directed to that city should be detained, 
the Venetians had not, until this day, received notice 
of his departure. The archduke, who had just been 
elected king of Bohemia, and a portion of whose sub- 
jects had revolted, had solicited his assistance against 
the rebels ; and the viceroy having boasted that he 
would transport the troops intended for that service, 
by the way of the gulf, near to the ports of the arch- 
duke, in Istria, the Venetians had desired this prince 
to request the viceroy to take another route. But as 
the reasons which govern other men had no influence 
with him, they did not doubt, when they heard he 
had set sail, that his purpose was to conduct the troops 
himself, by the route he had mentioned. As they 
wished to avoid an open rupture, they did not, as 
they might, obstruct his passage ; but determined to 
send their fleet to the coasts of Istria, to observe his 
motions, and protect their maritime possessions from 
any attack which he might be tempted to make. 

The firmest resolutions of men result generally from 
a strong conception of the danger which they have re- 
solved to encounter. By the constant contemplation 
of this danger, the mind becomes familiar with it, and 
with all the circumstances that attend it, however ter- 
rible they may be ; but this firmness of resolution is 
so connected and interwoven with these circumstan- 
ces, that, if a change in any one of them should hap- 
pen, on the point of execution, there is great dan- 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 85 

ger that the resolution, however firm before, should 
also change. 

Such an effect Renault and the captain apprehend- 
ed might be produced upon their associates, by the 
unexpected order for the fleet to sail, of which they 
had just received information. The news distressed 
them exceedingly, for they supposed, at first, that 
they should be compelled, however unpleasant it 
might be, to make some change in the plan of exe- 
cution, which had been agreed on. This plan, it 
was evident, could not be executed immediately, for 
the night was already far advanced, and day light 
would appear before the squadron under Haillot could 
be brought within cannon shot of Venice, and before 
the troops at the lazaretto could be sent for. Neither 
could it be executed the next day, for if Haillot 
should then be directed to come up to the city, he 
would inevitably meet people on their way to the 
fleet, which was about to set sail. The departure of 
the fleet was, in fact, an event more favorable to the 
conspirators than any they could have wished for ; 
Haillot would be left master of the port ; and there- 
fore, all things considered, they determined to defer 
the execution of their design, until some time after 
it had sailed. 

The greatest difficulty was, to decide whether the 
captain, Langlade, the three petardiers, and the oth- 
er conspirators, who were attached to the fleet, should 
obey the orders of the senate. It seemed necessary 
that they, and particularly the captain, should remain 
8 



8 * CONSPIRACY OF THE 

at Venice ; yet he, of all of them, could least avoid 
obeying. The important command, which he held 
in the fleet, would cause his absence to be remarked 
more than that of all the rest. As most of them 
were attached to his vessels, he might, if present, by 
substituting others, prevent their absence from being 
noticed. It was therefore determined that he should 
go, accompanied by Langlade alone, who, as well as 
the three petardiers, acted under the immediate or- 
ders of the admiral ; but, as to the petardiers, the 
conspirators preferred to hazard every thing rather 
than suffer them to depart. The admiral, when he 
first saw the captain, made enquiries concerning 
them ; and the captain replied that he believed that 
they, and other officers belonging to his vessels, 
whom he could not find, were concealed at the houses 
of courtesans, and that he had been obliged to leave 
Venice in such haste that he had no time to make 
search for them. The admiral's orders to set sail 
were so peremptory, and his time so much occupied, 
that he could neither despatch men to look for ihem. 
nor wait until they could be found. 

Before he embarked, the captain took Jaffier aside, 
and requested him to take his place by the side of 
Renault, on the night of the execution of the enter- 
prise. He spoke in high terms of the confidence 
they reposed in his courage and address ; he assured 
him that, were it not for this, he should never have 
consented to go on board the fleet ; but as Jaffier 
was to remain, he felt certain that he should leave 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 87 

with his associates a man equal at least to himself. 
During this conversation, the captain observed him 
attentively ; and he, affected by these expressions of 
esteem and confidence, gave, in his reply, such assu- 
rances of zeal, fidelity and gratitude as would have 
removed all doubt from the most suspicious of men. 
This was the last struggle of his expiring firmness, 
which ceased to exist when his friend disappeared. 
Having no longer before his eyes the only man who 
had influence over him, he abandoned himself entire- 
ly to his irresolution. 

The description which Renault, at the close of his 
address, had given of the night of the execution, had 
affected him to such a degree, that he could not re- 
press his emotions of pity. His imagination rendered 
the picture more vivid. It presented to him, in the 
liveliest colors, the injustice and the cruellies, that, 
on such occasions, must inevitably be committed. 
From that moment, he heard nothing but the cries 
of children trodden to death, the groans of old men 
slaughtered, and the shrieks of women dishonored. 
He saw only palaces demolished, temples on fire, sa- 
cred places polluted with blood. Venice, sorrowing, 
miserable Venice, was constantly before his eyes, not, 
as formerly, triumphant over Ottoman fortune and 
Spanish haughtiness, but in ashes, or in chains, and 
immersed in the blood of her inhabitants more than 
in the waters that surrounded her. 

This horrible image besieges him night and day, 
pursues, oppresses, shocks him. In vain does he 



88 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

strive to dismiss it from view. More obstinate than 
the furies of fable, it stands before him, at every re- 
past ; it disturbs his slumbers, it mingles with his 
dreams. — But, to betray all his friends ! and such 
friends ! courageous, intelligent, each in his peculiar 
faculty surpassing all others ; centuries must pass be- 
fore again such a number of extraordinary men could 
be united in one undertaking. Could he, at the mo- 
ment which was to render them memorable forever, 
snatch from them the fruit, then ready to be gather- 
ed, of the grandest design ever contrived by a private 
individual? And how would they perish? In torments 
more ingenious and more terrible than the tyrants of 
barbarous ages had ever invented. Who knows not 
that there is, in Venice, a prison more capable of an- 
nihilating the firmness of a man of courage than the 
most frightful punishments of other countries ? These 
last reflections, operating upon the amiable weakness 
of Jaffier, strengthened his first resolutions. The pity 
he felt for his companions became as powerful as 
that which the ruin of Venice excited ; and he con- 
tinued irresolute until the feast of Ascension, to 
which time the execution of the enterprise had been 
deferred. 

The next morning they received news from the 
captain. He sent word that he would answer for the 
fleet ; that it would sail to the neighbourhood of Ma- 
rano ; that, when they sent to the lazaretto for the 
troops of Lievestein, they must also despatch a boat 
to give him notice ; and that on receiving this notice, 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 



89 



lie would begin to act in his department. The pilots, 
which had been promised, were sent to Haillot. Men, 
suborned for the purpose, and intimate with those 
who kept guard in the Procuracy of St. Marks, were 
introduced into the belfry, or tower, where the guard 
were stationed ; and, by means of drugs mixed with 
their liquor, which they were persuaded to drink to 
excess on account of the public rejoicings of the day, 
stupified their faculties and caused them to sleep pro- 
foundly. Certain officers were ordered to take pos- 
session of the houses of the senators most to be fear- 
ed, and to kill them. The house which each was to 
attack was designated, and to each of the other offi- 
cers, or chiefs, a particular duty was assigned. Each 
was instructed what number of men he was to com- 
mand, where he would find them, the word by which 
he would know them, and the route by which he 
was to conduct them. The troops at the lazaretto, 
the Spaniards belonging to the squadron, the thou- 
sand Hollanders yet remaining in Venice, were also 
told in what direction they were to leave the square 
of St. Marks which was the general rendezvous, the 
posts they were to seize, the officers appointed to 
command them, and the word by which each might 
be recognised. Men, not liable to suspicion, were 
sent to examine the council barge, and others ascer- 
tained that the artillery was in complete order. 

Jaffier had the curiosity to witness the ceremony 
of the doge espousing the sea, it being the last time 
that ceremony was to be performed. The sight of 
8* 



90 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

the public festivities redoubled his compassion ; the 
tranquil enjoyments of the devoted Venetians present- 
ed to his mind, in still stronger colors, their ap- 
proaching desolation ; and he returned from the 
scene more irresolute than ever. In fine, Heaven 
decreed that the work of twelve centuries, and many 
wise patriots, should not be abandoned to the fury of 
a courtesan, and of a band of desperate zealots. 

The guardian genius of the republic suggested to 
Jaffier an expedient by which, as he imagined, he 
might, at the same time, save Venice and his compan- 
ions. Y^e went to Bartholomew Comino, secretary 
of the council often, and told him that he had some- 
thing to reveal, which was of great importance to the 
safety of the republic ; but he required, as a previous 
and indispensable condition, that the doge and the 
council should promise him a favor, and engage, by 
the most sacred oaths, that their promise should be 
ratified by the senate ; that this favor was the lives of 
twenty-two persons whom he would name, whatever 
crime they might have committed ; and he assured 
him that they need not hope, without granting this 
favor, to force his secret from him, for no tortures, 
however horrible, could oblige him to utter a word. 
The Ten and the doge were instantly assembled ; 
they did not hesitate to make the promise exacted by 
JafTier ; and lie, well satisfied with the course he 
was pursuing, disclosed to them the whole conspiracy. 

The disclosure appeared to them so incredible and 
so horrible, that they could not believe it. Never- 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 91 

theless, as it was easy to ascertain the truth, they 
despatched Comino to the belfry of the Procuracy. 
He returned with intelligence that all the guard were 
intoxicated or asleep. He was then sent to the ar- 
senal. He sought a long time for the officers ; but 
at length a servant, terrified by his threats, showed 
him a small door, which, after knocking in vain sev- 
eral times, he forced open. He found them with the 
three petardiers, who were engaged in finishing the 
fire-works to be used by the conspirators. He ask- 
ed them what induced them to labor on such a day 
of rejoicing, and why they did not open the door 
when he knocked. They replied, with much inge- 
nuity, that the petardiers were obliged to set out, the 
next day, to join the fleet ; that the admiral had or- 
dered them to carry on board a quantity of fire-works 
ready for use ; that, not having so many prepared as 
he required, they had requested the others to assist 
them ; that as it might be of great importance that 
the fire-works should be finished, they thought it their 
duty to abstain from partaking of the public festivi- 
ties ; and that, to avoid scandal, they had shut them- 
selves up, as he had found them, in the most private 
apartment of the arsenal. To this answer Comino 
could make no reply, but he arrested them. 

The Ten, more and more alarmed, sent immedi- 
ately to the residence of the Greek courtesan, but 
there they found no one. The men who had admin- 
istered opiates to the guard in the belfry, had^ when 
Comino entered, feigned to be asleep like the others ; 



92 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

but the instant he departed, they hastened to her 
house, and gave the alarm. Without losing a mo- 
ment, Nolot, Robert, Revellido, Villa-mezzana, Du- 
rand, Ternon, and Robert Brulard, who happened to 
be there, leaped into one of the boats, which had 
been procured to bring the troops from the lazaretto, 
and fled safely from Venice. 

Chagrined at their escape, the Council resolved 
to visit immediately the houses of the ambassadors of 
France and Spain. Entrance was civilly demanded, 
on business which concerned the safety of the repub- 
lic. The French ambassador cheerfully admitted 
them ; and Renault, Laurent Brulard, and de Bribe 
were arrested. But the Spanish ambassador angrily 
refused. He claimed all the privileges of his station, 
and when they entered forcibly he protested with 
spirit against the violence they committed. They 
found in his house arms for more than five huudred 
men, sixty petards, an immense quantity of powder, 
artificial fire-works, and other things of a similar na- 
ture. Of all an exact inventory was taken which he 
sportingly and jeeringly assisted to draw up. 

Before this inventory was transmitted to the coun- 
cil, a nobleman of the house of Valiera arrived with 
Brainville and Theodore, two of the principal conspi- 
rators. They had just heard that all was discovered ; 
and that the gates of the city had been closed imme- 
diately after the flight of the courtesan. Having, 
therefore, no hope of escape, they resolved to display 
their willingness to reveal the conspiracy, and waited 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 93 

upon this nobleman, whom they had known in Flan- 
ders, and desired him to conduct them to the council 
of ten, where they were arrested. In the meantime, 
all the boarding houses, taverns, houses of ill fame, 
and other places where foreigners would be likely to 
conceal themselves, were visited ; and all the Dutch, 
French, Spanish, Walloon, Neapolitan, and Milanese 
officers were arrested, amounting, in the whole, to 
near five hundred. 

In the midst of these occurrences, two Dauphinese, 
coming from Orange, presented themselves to the 
council, in boots, as they leaped from the boats that 
brought them. They declared that, having received 
letters from Frenchmen in Venice, stating that, if 
they wished to enrich themselves, they had nothing 
to do but to come to the city immediately, for a con- 
spiracy had been formed, and was just ready to be 
executed, to get possession of the city, and give it up 
to pillage, they had come in great haste, to give infor- 
mation of the plot. They received the thanks of the 
council, were conducted to convenient lodgings, and 
desired to repose themselves until the senate could 
determine what recompense was due to them. 

In the morning, the senate assembled, and the mar- 
quis of Bedmar demanded an audience. It was 
granted merely from curiosity. The report of the 
conspiracy had spread through the city, and produced 
a frightful agitation. The people, who had heard 
that the Spaniards were the authors of it, collected 
around the house of the ambassador, determined to 



94 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

enter it by force ; and they were about to set fine to 
it, when the persons arrived who were to conduct him 
to the audience. The orders they had received be- 
ing announced, the people, presuming the senate 
would inflict an exemplary punishment, permitted 
him to leave his house, but followed, loading him with 
reproaches and imprecations. 

The ambassador, entering the Senate, began by 
complaining indignantly against the violence which 
had been committed in his house contrary to the laws 
of nations ; and he threatened so fiercely to be re- 
venged, that he frightened most of the senators, who 
feared that this man still had means, with which they 
were unacquainted, to accomplish his enterprise. 
The doge answered that they would apologise to him 
for this outrage when he, who, being an ambassador, 
ought to be a minister of peace, had given some ac- 
count of the provisions and munitions of war, which 
had been discovered at his house. He replied that 
he was astonished that men, who had the reputation 
of men of sense, should be so disingenuous as to in- 
sult him to his face upon a pretext so gross ; that 
they knew, as well as he, that the provisions were 
merely deposited in his house for safe keeping, as 
others before had been, to be sent to Naples and the 
Tyrol ; that, in regard to the arms, the whole world 
knew that none were so excellent as those made in 
the cities of the republic ; and, as to the fire-works, 
and other similar things, certain artists of extraordi- 
nary skill having offered him their services, he had 
employed them to gratify his curiosity. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 95 

The doge interrupted him, declaring that these 
artists were wretches, or rather monsters, born for the 
eternal disgrace of mankind ; and presented to him a 
letter of credit for the governor of Milan, which, with 
other letters from the duke of Ossuna, had been found 
among the papers of Renault. 

The ambassador answered that, as to the duke of 
Ossuna, he had already declared that he had no con- 
nection with him, and was not responsible for his con- 
duct ; that, as to the letter of credit, it was true that 
the French ambassador had, a short time ago, recom- 
mended to him a gentleman who, having business of 
his own at Milan, was in need of assistance, and he 
had given him the letter which had just been shown 
to him ; but he was entirely ignorant that the busi- 
ness of this gentleman had the slightest connection 
with the interests or welfare of the republic. 

The doge, perceiving from these answers that the 
assurance of the ambassador would never fail him, 
contented himself with representing to him, in a sol- 
emn and dignified manner, the atrociousness of his 
design, and concluded by declaring that they had not 
the slightest suspicion that he acted with the knowl- 
edge of the king his master. The ambassador repli- 
ed, with all the indignant earnestness of a highmind- 
ed man, when his honor is unjustly attacked, that he 
belonged to a nation, so distinguished for valor and 
prudence, that it need not have recourse to dishon- 
orable acts to destroy its enemies ; that the king his 
master was sufficiently powerful, as they would soon 



1)6 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

find, to vanquish them, by open force, without re- 
sorting to treachery. He then hastily and without 
ceremony left the hall. Those who attended him be- 
sought him to repose himself, a short time, in an ad- 
joining apartment, until the senate should have given 
the necessary order for his protection ; and he per- 
mitted them to conduct him where they thought 
proper, making no reply, and trembling with passion. 
While the populace were gathering in the square, 
with the intent to tear him in pieces as soon as the 
senate had dismissed him, a few persons were des- 
patched to his house, who directed his family to go 
on board a vessel in the harbor, and conveyed thither 
his most valuable furniture. They then, returning to 
him, conducted him through secret passages in the 
palace to a brigantine well armed and defended by a 
strong escort. The populace, enraged at his escape, 
made an effigy of him and of the duke of Ossuna, 
and treated them in the same manner they would 
have treated their persons had they fallen into their 
hands. 

Orders, at the same time, were sent to the admiral 
to cause Langlade, the captain James Pierre, and all 
his confidential officers, to be thrown into the sea. As 
it was supposed that they would be on their guard, a 
vessel of a shape and appearance the most uncommon 
in Venice, was selected to carry this order ; she was 
equipped like a foreign vessel, and made a long cir- 
cuit that she might approach the fleet in a direction 
different from that in which she would naturally have 




SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 97 

come, had she sailed from the city. It was afterwards 
known that the captain had been all night on the 
watch, and that, having seen this vessel arrive, he 
immediately repaired to his principal ship, as if he 
had apprehended the truth, and had resolved to make 
preparations to defend himself in case he was betray- 
ed. But probably the fear of ruining his enterprise, 
by an apprehension which might be groundless, kept 
him some time in deliberation what course to pursue ; 
for the admiral, who lost not a moment, sent two men 
on whom he could rely, who, concealing their arms, 
boarded his vessel and finding him alone, accosted 
him with their usual frankness, stabbed him instantlv 
and cast him into the sea, without being seen by any 
one. Langlade and forty of his officers were treated 
in the same manner and with the same secrecy. 

Renault, when interrogated at Venice, replied that 
he knew nothing in relation to the enquiries made of 
him. They showed him the letter of credit for don 
Pedro, a passport in Spanish for all the dependencies 
of Spain, bills of exchange for large sums, and a 
thousand pistoles in gold. He answered that he was 
not acquainted, either with the Spanish ambassador or 
the governor of Milan ; that, therefore, if any thing, 
which had reference to them, had been found among 
his papers, it must have been placed there by oth- 
ers j and that, in regard to the bills of exchange 
and the gold, they were all the property he had in the 
world. He was put to the torture ordinary and extra- 
ordinary ; but he said nothing further, except that he 
9 



98 CONSPIRACY OF THE 

was a poor old man, honest, noble, and honorable, 
and God would avenge him. On several successive 
days, the instruments of torture were displayed be- 
fore him, and he was even promised impunity if he 
would relate all he knew, but in vain : and, after 
having, at different times, been tortured in every 
mode that could be devised, he was strangled in pris- 
on, and hung up in public, by one of his feet, as a 
traitor. The lieutenant of the count of Nassau, the 
three petardiers, Bribe, Laurent Brulard, and the two 
officers of the arsenal, were also strangled, after hav- 
ing endured the torture with equal constancy ; but 
Brainville, Theodore, and upwards of three hundred 
officers were, without suffering the torture, privately 
strangled or drowned. 

In the meantime Jaffier, rendered miserable by the 
cruel effects of his compassion, complained loudly 
that the doge and the council had not kept the prom- 
ise thfcy had made him in favor of his companions. 
This promise had not been violated until after mature 
consideration. Many, in fact, were of opinion that it 
ought to be religiously observed. Others represent- 
ed that the question might have been a doubtful one, 
had a knowledge of the conspiracy been obtained 
from Jaffier only, but the two Dauphinese, who had 
also disclosed it, invested the senate with full right to 
act as though Jaffier had disclosed nothing. This 
opinion, supported by the general horror and conster- 
nation, was adopted by the majority, although many 
arguments might have been advanced against it. 



SPANIARDS AGAINST VENICE. 99 

To appease Jaffier, every expedient was resorted to. 
He was urged to accept of money and employment. 
He refused every thing, and persisted in demanding, 
though in vain, the lives of his friends ; and after their 
execution he left Venice inconsolable. The senate, 
when informed of his departure, sent him an order to 
quit the territories of the republic, in three days, un- 
der pain of death, and four thousand sequins, which 
he was compelled to receive. The pity which he 
felt for his friends redoubled whenever he reflected 
that he had been the cause of their death. He ascer- 
tained, after leaving the city, that the.enterprise against 
Brescia . might yet be prosecuted successfully. His 
desire of vengeance impelled him to throw himself in- 
to that city. But he had scarcely entered it, when 
the ten, having gained knowledge of the project from 
the papers of the conspirators, despatched thither a 
body of troops, who took possession of the principal 
posts, and put to the sword several Spaniards who had 
been admitted within the walls. Jaffier was taken 
fighting at their head like a man who sought only to 
sell his life dearly j and being brought to Venice, a 
few days afterwards, was drowned the next day after 
his arrival i 

The death of this miserable man having restored 
tranquillity to this great city, the senate immediately 
demanded another minister from Madrid. Don Louis 
Bravo was appointed, and received orders to depart 
instantly for Venice; and the marquis of Bedmar, ac- 
cording to custom, gave him instructions for his guid- 



!00 CONSPIRACY, <fcc. 

ance, which were almost wholly comprised in two 
particulars. 

The first was, that the new ambassador should, on 
every occasion, loudly and explicitly censure the con- 
duct of his predecessor, and should take pains, even in 
the most trivial matters, to exhibit a totally different 
demeanor. The other was, that, in all his negotia- 
tions concerning the rights and pretensions of the re- 
public, he should consult, as his only guide, the Squit- 
iinio della Liberia Veneta^ to which the marquis oft- 
en refers, in terms which, though cautiously expres- 
sed, discover his paternal affection for this work. 

In the meantime, proclamation was made, in all the 
dependencies of the republic, that no one, under pain 
of death, should impute to the king of Spain, nor to 
the Spaniards, any participation in the conspiracy ; 
and thirty thousand ducats were given to the two 
Dauphinese, who had come from their native country 
for the sole purpose of revealing it. 

Don Pedro, perceiving all hope at an end, dismis- 
sed his troops and restored Vercelli. The duke of 
Ossuna made ample provision for the wife and chil- 
dren of the captain and released them from prison. 

The marquis of Bedmar was appointed first minis- 
ter in Flanders ; and, a short time afterwards, receiv- 
ed, from Rome, a cardinal's hat. 



CONSPIRACY 



OF 



JOHN LEWIS FIESCO 



AGAINST 



GENOA. 









r 



NOTE. 



The history of the Conspiracy of John Lewis Fies- 
co against Genoa was written, in his youth, by the cel- 
ebrated cardinal De Retz. It displays such high admi- 
ration of Fiesco and his enterprise, that, on perusing it, 
cardinal Richelieu, then first minister of France, pre- 
dicted that the young ecclesiastic would be a turbu- 
lent and dangerous character. It is well known that 
afterwards, when archbishop of Paris, he acted a 
conspicuous part in the insurrection of the Fronde. 
The reflections interspersed are characteristic of the 
author, and prove that he must at least have retouch- 
ed it, after his judgment had been matured by ex- 
perience. 



CONSPIRACY, 



At the beginning of the year 1547, the condition 
of the republic of Genoa might have been called for- 
tunate, had it been more firmly established. She 
enjoyed, in appearance, an honorable tranquillity, ob- 
tained by her own arms, and secured by those of 
Charles V, whom she had chosen protector of her 
liberties. The weakness of her enemies relieved her 
from all fear of their ambitious designs ; and peace 
brought back into her borders that abundance which 
war had for a long time banished ; her trade revived 
to the visible advantage of the public and of individu- 
als ; and, had her citizens been as contented as their 
condition was fortunate, this republic, in a short time, 
would, in the enjoyment of a profitable and happy re- 
pose, have recovered all she had lost. But divisions 
still existed among them, and the seeds of hatred, 
which previous quarrels had sown in their hearts, 
were dangerous relics, evincing too plainly that the 
body politic was not yet relieved from its maladies ; 
and that its indications of prosperity resembled the 



106 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

apparent health of bloated countenances, in whose 
flesh fester a multitude of peccant humors. The no- 
bility, who administered the government, could not 
forget the injuries which, when banished from power, 
they had received from the people. The people, on 
their part, regarded the domination of the nobility, 
as a new tyranny, subversive of the constitution of 
the republic. A portion even of the gentlemen, who 
aspired to a higher rank, did not disguise their envy 
of those above them. Those in authority ruled with 
insolence ; those in subjection obeyed with indigna- 
tion ; and many imagined they obeyed because they 
could not rule with absolute sway. At this period, 
by the permission of Providence, an event occurred 
which, at once, confined forever the nobility in power 
and the people in servitude 

This event was the conspiracy of John Lewis Fies- 
co, count of Lavagna, a history of which will be ren- 
dered more intelligible and interesting by a relation 
of the events and circumstances which preceded and 
occasioned it. 

At the time of those memorable wars, in which the 
emperor, Charles V, and Francis I, of France, deso- 
lated Italy, Andrew Doria, descended from one of 
the most illustrious families of Genoa, and the great- 
est naval commander of the age, supported with zeal 
the cause of France, and sustained upon the sea the 
reputation of that crown, with a courage and good 
fortune, which redounded as much to the advantage 
of his master as to his individual glory. But it i> 



AGAINST GENOA. 107 

frequently the fault of the greatest princes, that they 
do not treat with sufficient regard the men they em- 
ploy, when they once consider themselves sure of 
their fidelity. It was for this reason that France lost 
the services of an able and important officer, and the 
loss produced such disastrous consequences that it 
will never be recollected without sorrow. 

At the time when Doria was engaged, on terms 
highly advantageous to him, in the service of the 
king, as admiral of his gallies, those who were high in 
favor at court, and filled the principal seats in the 
councils of the kingdom, began to envy his glory, and 
to covet his station ; and they resolved to ruin the 
man whom they saw too powerful to court the favor 
of any one but his master. Knowing that it would 
not, at first, be either safe, or useful to their design, 
to speak of him unfavorably to the king, whose friend- 
ship was too strong to be suddenly changed to enmi- 
ty, they pursued a more artful course ; and, uniting 
with the public in applauding the first services that 
he rendered to France, they resolved to give him 
causes of dissatisfaction, which might be attributed to 
the necessities of the nation rather than to their par- 
ticular enmity, and which would, nevertheless, pro- 
duce the effect they desired. They sought opportu- 
nities of eliciting complaints from this proud and arro- 
gant hero, that they might the more easily ruin him 
in the opinion of the king ; and his own affairs were 
so often discussed in the council, that they, enjoying 
unlimited influence there, found too many occasions 






108 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

of displeasing him. Sometimes the finances were too 
much exhausted to pay his exorbitant salary ; some- 
times they paid him in depreciated paper ; some- 
times his demands were decided to be unreasonable 
and unjust. At length the remonstrances, drawn 
from him by the wrongs he sustained, were, by the 
artifices of his enemies, represented as disrespectful 
to the king, who became weary and dissatisfied, and 
was, by degrees, induced to consider him a selfish, 
insolent, and intractable man. At last, they openly 
offended him, by refusing to pay him the ransom of 
his prisoner, the prince of Orange, whom his nephew, 
Philippin Doria, had taken before Naples, and whom, 
upon the order of the king, he had delivered into his 
hands. They demanded, and enforced their demand 
with threats, that he should also deliver up the mar- 
quis del Guasto and Ascanio Colonna, who had been 
made prisoners in the same battle. They neglected 
to perform the promise they had made him to restore 
Savona to the republic : and as, instead of conceal- 
ing his resentment under the appearance of modera- 
tion, he manifested it openly, his enemies omitted no 
opportunity of inflaming it. M. de Barbezieux was 
ordered to take possession of his gallies, and even to 
arrest him if he should find it practicable. This 
course of proceeding was not only contrary to good 
faith but to the dictates of worldly prudence ; and 
the ministers of France cannot be too severely cen- 
sured for having preferred their own interests to 
those of their king, and for having driven from his 



AGAINST GENOA. 109 

Service the only man who could sustain his cause in 
Italy. It may also be said that, having determined 
to ruin him, they ought to have done it at once and 
completely, and not have left him in a condition to 
inflict essential injury, not only upon France, but also 
upon themselves, by giving the king good reason to 
feel dissatisfied with their counsels, which were the 
source of such disasters to his kingdom. 

Doria, seeing himself thus treated as a criminal, 
made known his complaints, in a public manifesto, 
and declared that he was not so sensibly affected by 
his private wrongs, as by the injustice of the king in 
refusing to restore, as he had often promised, the city 
ofSavona to his dear country. He made an agree- 
ment himself with the marquis del Guasto, his prison- 
er, declared himself for the emperor, and accepted 
the command of his fleet. The conduct of this old 
politician was as malicious, at least, as that of the 
ministers of France, but was much more crafty and 
judicious. He cannot be exonerated from the charge 
of great ingratitude, for resolving, in a moment of 
anger, to be revenged on a prince to whom, it may be 
said, he was indebted for all his glory, as he had ob- 
tained his most brilliant testimonials of honor, in the 
command of his forces; and it is difficult to justify 
the treachery, base and unworthy his former actions, 
of which he was guilty, when he, at a time when he 
professed a desire to remain in the service of the 
king, directed Phillippin Doria, his lieutenant, to per- 
mit provisions to be conveyed into Naples, which was 
10 



110 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

then closely beseiged by Mons. de Lautrec. But it 
must also be acknowledged that his conduct entitles 
him to a high rank in that class of politicians who are 
governed wholly by self interest ; for he exhibited 
such address in arraying appearances on his side, that 
his friends might speciously assign the king's breach 
of faith, in regard to his country, as the real cause of 
his change of party ; and his enemies could not deny 
that the treatment he had received had been extreme- 
ly harsh and difficult to be endured ; and moreover 
he well knew that the secret means of obtaining a 
high consideration in a party is to render it, at the 
time of joining it, an important service. In fact, he 
chose his time so judiciously, and conducted his re- 
volt so skilfully, that he preserved Naples for the em- 
peror, which the French, had Philippin Doria con- 
tinued to serve them faithfully, would, in a few days, 
have wrested from him. His change of party occa- 
sioned the ruin of one of the greatest captains that 
France ever produced, and, in the sequel, placed the 
republic of Genoa under the protection of Spain, to 
which nation, she is, on account of her dominions in 
Italy, of vast importance ; and this was the first ser- 
vice which Andrew Doria rendered to the emperor 
after he had explicitly declared against the king. 

This artful and ambitious man, who was well ac- 
quainted with all the intrigues, and the inclinations of 
the Genoese, found no difficulty in managing a people 
who have always been accused of a love of novelty. 
As he had, in the city, many friends and concealed 



AGAINST GENOA. Ill 

partisans, who gave him an account of all that happen- 
ed, he took pains to exasperate the discontented, to 
create dissatisfaction in the minds of others, and to 
convince all that the French, retaining the whole 
power in their own hands, left to the Genoese only 
the shadow of sovereignty ; he held up to the view of 
the nobles, the image of the ancient government, 
.which was placed entirely in their hands ; and, in 
fine, he intimated to all classes that a revolution would 
produce a general improvement of affairs. 

His party being formed, he drew near to Genoa 
with his gallies, landed, and, without meeting any re- 
sistance, placed his troops in battle array. He then 
marched into the city, followed by those of his own 
party who had taken arms on a concerted signal. He 
took possession of the principal posts, and became 
master of ihe city almost without drawing his sword. 
Theodore Trivulcius, who commanded for the king 
of France, lost, in losing Genoa, all the reputation he 
had acquired in the wars of Italy ; for he neglected 
to crush the intrigues which, previous to the surren- 
der, were carried on in the city, although he was ap- 
prised of their existence, and, to save his life and his 
wealth, he cbose to make a disgraceful capitulation 
in the citadel, rather than to bury himself gloriously 
in the ruins of a city so important to the interests of 
his master. 

The French were no sooner expelled from Genoa 
than the streets resounded with the name of Doria ? 
some, in these acclamations, conveying their real sen^ 
r 



112 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

timents ; others, by shouts of dissembled joy, con- 
cealing opinions which they had formerly expressed, 
and contrary to those manifested by the public ; and 
the majority, as is generally the case, welcoming the 
new state of things for the sole reason of their novelty. 
Doria, without suffering this ardor to cool, assem- 
bled the nobility, committed the government to their 
hands, and, protesting that he claimed no higher au- 
thority than any other gentleman, prescribed himself 
a constitution for the republic. Then, after receiving 
all imaginable demonstrations of the gratitude of his 
fellow citizens, he retired to his palace to enjoy, in re- 
pose, the fruit of his past labors ; and the republic 
erected to his honor a statue inscribed, To the Father 
of his Country and the Restorer of Liberty. 

There are many who think that Doria had fully 
satisfied his ambition in restoring liberty to his coun- 
try ; and that the general applause he received rath- 
er inspired him with the thought of enjoying in tran- 
quillity the glory he had acquired, than of taking ad- 
vantage of it to accomplish more elevated designs. 
Others cannot imagine that the important office which 
he had just accepted in the service of the emperor, 
and the pains he had taken to attach the nobility of 
Genoa to his family, could have proceeded from a 
disposition solicitous of repose, and entirely uninflu- 
enced by self interest. They believe that he had too 
much discernment not to be aware that a sovereign in 
Genoa could not possibly continue on friendly terms 
with the court of Spain, and that he intended merely 



AGAINST GENOA. 113 

to amuse that power by exhibiting an apparent mod- 
eration, and to defer his ambitious projects to a more 
favorable season. 

His advanced age might, however, have diminished 
the apprehension which they entertained of the au- 
thority he exercised, had they not perceived a second 
self in possession of authority almost equal to his own. 
Giannetino Doria, his cousin and adopted son, then 
about twenty-eight years of age, was extremely vain, 
haughty, and overbearing. All the offices which 
Andrew held would be transmitted by inheritance to 
him ; and the nobility of Genoa were, for this reason, 
attached to his interests. His style of living was 
more splendid than that of a citizen unwilling to at- 
tract the envy of others, or to arouse the jealousy of 
republicans. He did not even conceal his contempt 
of those of noble birth. The extraordinary exalta- 
tion of this family produced the great commotion 
which will now be described, and gave to all nations a 
memorable admonition not to permit any individual 
to become so eminent as to inspire in others a wish 
to humble him, and afford a pretext for undertaking it. 
John Lewis Fiesco, count of Lavagna, descended 
from the most ancient and illustrious family in Ge- 
noa, enjoying an annual income of more than two 
hundred thousand crowns, twenty-two years of age, 
endowed with every pleasing and noble faculty, am- 
bitious, enterprising and brave, led, at this time, in 
Genoa, a life quite contrary to his inclinations. As 
he was passionately fond of glory, and was presented 
10* 



Ill CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

with no opportunity of acquiring it, he was continual- 
ly meditating upon the means of creating such op- 
portunity. But, although, at that time, the state of 
affairs afforded him none, he yet might have expect- 
ed that his talents would, at some futute time, open to 
him the way to the glory he coveted, in serving his 
country, had the extraordinary power of Giannetino 
Doria, of which we have just spoken, permitted him 
to hope for employment ; but, as he was too illustri- 
ous by his birth, and too highly esteemed for his 
good qualities, not to excite the apprehension of the 
man who wished to enjoy all the reputation, and com- 
mand all the forces of the republic, he was convinc- 
ed that he could have no well founded hope, where 
his rival was almost omnipotent ; for nothing is more 
certain than that those who, in the highest stations, 
regard others with jealousy, never think of them but 
with a wish to effect their ruin. Aware, therefore, 
that he had every thing to apprehend from the eleva- 
tion of Doria, and that he could have no hope of per- 
sonal advancement, he felt impelled to endeavor, by 
his courage and address, to prevent the ill consequen- 
ces of that grandeur which eclipsed his own ; well 
knowing that nothing is ever to be expected from 
those who impress others with fear, but an excessive 
distrust of all who are capable of rising by their own 
merit, and incessant endeavors to impede their pro- 
gress. 

Despairing from all these considerations, of attain- 
ing to eminence in the service of his country, he con- 



AGAINST GENOA. 115 

ceived the design of humbling the family of Doria, 
before it had become more firmly established ; and 
as that family was identified with the government of 
the republic, he resolved to effect the ruin of the one 
by a revolution in the other. 

Great rivers never do any damage when nothing 
interrupts their course ; but, meeting the slightest ob- 
stacle, they rage with violence, and an inconsidera- 
ble bank often causes them to overflow and drown 
those fields which otherwise they would have render- 
ed fertile. And thus it is reasonable to suppose that 
if the ambition of Fiesco had not found the career of 
glory preoccupied by the Dorias, he would never 
have transgressed the bounds of moderation and duty, 
but would have devoted to the service of the repub- 
lic those talents which almost effected its ruin. 

These ambitious purposes of the count were en- 
couraged by the representations of many, who ex- 
pected to derive personal advantages from the public 
disorders ; and more especially by the pressing so- 
licitations of the French, who addressed to him many 
arguments, and made him considerable offers, at first 
by the medium of Caesar Fregosa and Canino Gon- 
zague, and afterwards of Mons. du Bellai, who held 
secret conferences with him by the intervention of Pe- 
ter Luke Fiesco. 

It was generally believed, at that time, that Pope 
Paul III, hoping, by the same blow, to humble An- 
drew Doria, whom he hated for certain private rea- 
sons, and to deprive the emperor, already too power- 



116 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

ful, of an able partisan in Italy, had labored assidu- 
ously to inflame the ambition of Fiesco, and had pre- 
sented to him the strongest inducements to undertake 
his designs against Genoa. 

No flattery is so grateful to a man of spirit, and 
nothing impels him to such perilous enterprises, as to 
be courted by persons greatly superior to others in 
dignity or reputation. This mark of their esteem in- 
spires him with high confidence in himself, and per- 
suades him that he is capable of conducting success- 
fully the most important affairs. The project which 
Fiesco had conceived was thus made to appear to 
him glorious and easy to be executed ; for he was 
urged to undertake it by the greatest prince in Eu- 
rope, and by the ablest statesman of the age. The 
one was Francis I, who directed Peter Strozzi, when 
passing, with his troops, over the mountains near Ge- 
noa, to convey to hirn his wishes ; and the other 
was cardinal Augustine Trivulcius, protector of 
France at the court of Rome, from whom he receiv- 
ed all imaginable honors, when, apparently for the 
gratification of his curiosity, but in reality to commu- 
nicate his design to the Pope and ascertain his senti- 
ments, he visited that city. 

The Cardinal, whose reputation was then at its 
height, and who was considered a very sagacious 
politician, succeeded in inflaming the ambition of Fi- 
esco, a passion which naturally had too much domin- 
ion over him. He exhibited to him, in the manner 
best calculated to excite his jealousy, the present 



AGAINST GENOA. 117 

greatness of Giannetino Doria, and the future great- 
ness he was endeavoring to secure by the connections 
he was forming ; and, augmenting thus the envy 
which the former, and the apprehension which the 
latter excited, he insinuated that it must be intolera- 
ble to a man of spirit to live in a republic where the 
career of honor was closed against him, and where 
noble birth and exalted merit gave him no advantage 
above ordinary men. 

After he had confirmed him in his purpose, he offer- 
ed him, on the part of France, all the aid he might 
desire. His urgent representations had such effect 
upon a mind already inclined to yield, that the count, 
at length, with evident satisfaction, expressed an in- 
tention of accepting the command of six gallies in the 
service of the king, of two hundred men of the garri- 
son of Montobio, of a company of infantry, and a 
pension of twelve thousand crowns, declaring, never- 
theless, that he would not give a definite answer until 
after his return to Genoa. So true it is, that, in af- 
fairs of importance, nothing is more difficult than to 
form, at once, a decisive resolution ; a multitude of 
considerations, each balancing another, crowd togeth- 
er into the mind, and give rise to the fear that suffi- 
cient time has not been devoted to deliberation. 

Extraordinary actions resemble explosions of thun- 
der, which are never loud, nor their effects danger- 
ous, except where the exhalations which occasion 
them have been a long time struggling with each oth- 
er. When there is nothing but a mass of vapors, a 



118 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

low sound only is produced, which, far from terrify- 
ing, is scarcely heard. It is thus with resolutions in 
great affairs. When they enter at once into the 
mind, and meet only with feeble resistance, it is an 
infallible sign that they make only a slight and tran- 
sient impression, which may indeed occasion some 
agitation, but will never produce any important ef- 
fect. 

It cannot justly be denied that Fiesco had reflect- 
ed materially upon the project which he was desirous 
of undertaking ; for, after his return to Genoa, anx- 
ious as he was to execute it, he hesitated, a long time, 
in determining which of the various routes, leading 
to his object, he should select. Sometimes the offer- 
ed aid of a powerful king inclined him to adopt the 
resolution of throwing himself into the arms of the 
French ; at other times, the distrust of foreigners, 
which all naturally feel, joined to certain aspirations 
of glory, which impel a man to reject all participation 
of others in the brilliant actions he intends to perform, 
inclined him to hope that he might find, in his own 
resources, means bearing some proportion to his great 
designs ; and perhaps these different reflections would 
have long agitated his bosom, and occasioned consid- 
erable delay, had he not daily had new and just cau- 
ses of indignation at the insupportable arrogance of 
Giannetino Doria, who, in addition to his general in- 
solence of behaviour, treated the count, after his re- 
turn, with such particular haughtiness, that he could 
not restrain his anger, and openly declared that he 



AGAINST GENOA. 139 

would not submit to the disgraceful servitude to which 
his fellow citizens were subjected. 

Politicians, following the general maxims, that ev- 
ery feeling of anger against those we hate, should be 
suppressed until the opportunity occurs of striking a 
fatal blow, have censured this conduct of the count as 
injudicious. But it must be acknowledged that, if his 
prudence failed him. on this occasion, it is a fault to 
which lofty natures are liable. Contemptuous treat- 
ment irritates them so suddenly and so violently that 
they cannot wait to take counsel of their reason, nor 
to acquire the mastery over themselves. This fault 
proves him guiltless, at least, of the charge which 
some historians have made against him, that he was 
naturally of a dark and dissembling temper, more 
covetous than ambitious, and more strongly attached 
to interest than to glory. This warmth, I say, which 
his conduct displayed, proves that he was actuated 
by a love of glory, and by a laudable ambition, for 
all, who have embarked in similar designs, from a 
love of domination, and from other views than the ac- 
quisition of honorable fame, have previously submit- 
ted patiently to shameful humiliations. 

It is certain that Giannetino Doria was intolerably 
insolent, and that, in all respects, he followed the 
wicked maxim, that severity and haughtiness are the 
best methods of governing, and that it is useless to 
conciliate by kindness those who may be controlled 
by interest or fear. This conduct, increasing the 
aversion of the count, strengthened the resolution 



120 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

which he had found to destroy him, and afforded 
him the opportunity of making use, to humble him, 
of the effects of that haughtiness with which he en- 
deavored to humble all others. 

The Cardinal Augustine Trivulcius, aware that, 
on such occasions, it is dangerous to give to the zeal 
of young men a time to cool, immediately after the 
count's return to Genoa, despatched Nicholas Foder- 
ato, a gentleman of Savona, and a relation of the fam- 
ily of Fiesco, to obtain his decisive answer. He 
found him more incensed than ever, and easily per- 
suaded him to stipulate whatever he desired. He 
then returned, without delay, to procure the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty by the ministers of the king, who 
were, at that time, at Rome. But having proceed- 
ed thirty or forty leagues, he was overtaken by a 
courier and recalled, the count having reflected that 
he had been too precipitate, and that he ought not 
to have concluded an agreement of that importance 
without haviag conferred with those friends whose 
judgments he confided in. He assembled three of 
them, on whose fidelity he could implicitly rely, and 
whom he highly esteemed for their good qualities ; 
and after having declared that he had resolved to en- 
dure no longer the present government ef the repub- 
lic, he requested their advice upon the subject. 

Vincent Caleagno of Varesa, a zealous servant of 
the family, discreet but timid, began his discourse 
with the freedom which his long services entitled him 
to use ; and, addressing the count, spoke as follows : 



AGAINST GENOA. 121 

" It seems to me that there is much reason to com- 
passionate the misfortune of those who embark in 
important undertakings. They cast themselves, as it 
were, upon a tempestuous ocean, where no spot is 
visible that is not marked by a shipwreck. And it 
ought to increase our fears to see young men, whom 
we love, exposed to this danger : for they have not 
the strength to encounter the labors of such a voyage, 
nor the experience to avoid the rocks, or steer safely 
to port. All your servants ought to feel a lively in- 
terest in the designs which your courage prompts 
you to undertake. Permit me to say, that this is 
above your age, and the station you occupy. Your 
thoughts are bent on affairs, which require a higher 
consideration in the world than a man of your age, 
however fortunate he may have been, can possibly 
have obtained ; and the design you have formed de- 
mands forces which one of the greatest kings of the 
age has never been able to raise. These thoughts 
arise in your mind from two modes of. false reason- 
ing, which are, as it were, inherent in the nature of 
man. Himself is apt to engross too much of his 
thoughts ; that is to say, he assumes that he can do, 
whatever his imagination tells him he may do ; and 
he seldom forms a safe judgment of others, because 
he makes himself the criterion by which he judges, 
considering only what they can do, and not what they 
ought nor what their interests may lead them to do. 
The first error is exceedingly dangerous, because, as 
no one can perform an important enterprise alone, 
11 



122 CONSPIRACY OP PIESCO 

and as many others must be consulted, it is highly im- 
portant that they also should think it rational and 
practicable ; otherwise he, who undertakes it, will 
find few friends who are willing to follow his fortunes. 
The second error is even more common and not less 
dangerous, because those very persons, from whom 
much assistance is anticipated, are often found to 
make the strongest opposition. Be careful, there- 
fore, that the great talents which nature has given 
you, and which you may, perhaps justly, imagine will 
supply the deficiency of experience, do not betray 
you into the first error ; and consider that, brilliant 
as they are, they may not produce, in the minds even 
of those best disposed to serve you, that strength of 
attachment which will be necessary for the execution 
of an enterprise so difficult and dangerous. And it 
is still more unlikely that they should so dazzle your 
enemies, as to prevent them from making use, with 
effect, of the pretence that you are yet a young man. 
Be careful, also, that your illustrious birth, and the 
reputation which you have acquired by your good 
qualities ; that your immense wealth and the secret 
understandings which you, perhaps, have entered in- 
to, do not betray you into the second error, and in- 
duce you to believe that those who have promised to 
assist you will not desert you in time of need. Dis- 
miss therefore that thought, or if you do not entertain 
it, cease to judge others by yourself, but judge them 
by the relations in which they stand. Consider their 
interests ; reflect that it is that which actuates and 



AGAINST GENOA. 123 

governs almost every one ; that most of those who 
respect, and love you, love themselves infinitely more, 
and dread injury to themselves much more than they 
desire success to you. In fine, consider that those 
who encourage you to hope for their assistance are 
either foreigners or your fellow-citizens. Of the 
first, the most considerable are the French. They 
cannot assist you, for, at present, their whole strength 
is needed to defend themselves in their own country, 
against the armies of the empire and of Spain. Those 
who can assist you, the Genoese, will not. Some 
will be terrified by the dangers which are incident to 
affairs of this nature ; and others, governed by inter- 
est, will fear the loss of their repose or their fortunes. 
Most of those, not influenced by these considerations, 
are persons of such mean birth and little influence, 
that no assistance can be expected from them. 
Wherefore, the unbounded authority of Doria, and 
the evil condition of the times, which inspire you 
with thoughts of revolt, ought rather to teach you pa- 
tience, for they have so dispirited the Genoese that 
they now esteem it an honor to surrender to his au- 
thority that independence which he has restored to 
them, and which he wrested from foreigners only 
that he might usurp it himself. Are you not aware, 
that, for a long time, this republic has enjoyed only 
the shadow of a free government, and that it can no 
longer exist without a master ? Do you not perceive 
that the family of Doria is gradually attaching to its 
interests the greater portion of the nobility, by the 



124 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

naval appointments it confers ? and that, favored by 
the empire and Spain, it holds all the rest in fear I 
Do you not perceive, I say, that all the Genoese are 
sunk, as it were, into a profound lethargy ; and that 
even those, who have most spirit, do not think it dis- 
honorable to give way to that mighty power, provided 
they do not debase themselves by worshipping it. I 
do not pretend to justify the republic for its impru- 
dence in permitting the elevation of this family, which 
it can no longer endure without disgrace, nor humble 
without danger ; but I dare maintain that an individual 
cannot reasonably hope, by his own means, to remove 
an evil which has become so deeply rooted ; and that 
all which an honorable man can do, in such a junc- 
ture, is to imitate those prudent mariners, who, in- 
stead of struggling obstinately with the wind to reach 
a port, seek the open sea t and submit, without resist- 
ance, to the force of the storm. Yield, therefore, 
to the times, while fate so ordains ; seek not for rem- 
edies where none are to be found that are not worse 
than the disease. Await them from the hand of Prov- 
idence, which rules, as it pleases, the destinies of 
states, and which will never desert this republic. 
Enjoy, in contentment, the repose, and the advan- 
tages, which your birth secures you, or seek the law- 
ful opportunities, afforded by foreign wars, to exer- 
cise your valour. 

" Expose not to the hazard of a criminal revolt the 
great fortune you possess, and which would satisfy 
the ambition of any other person ; and be assured 



i 



AGAINST GENOA. 125 

that, if Giannetino envies or hates your merit, you 
cannot gratify him more than by following your pres- 
ent inclination, for you will afford him an opportunity 
of pursuing his private resentment under the pretext 
of public good, and of making use of the authority of 
the state to destroy you ; and, in fine, you will labor 
yourself to erect, upon your own ruins, trophies of his 
glory and power. They, who rise without effort to 
eminent stations, most commonly fall of themselves ; 
because, if they possess ambition, and the qualities 
which enable them to rise, they are generally desti- 
tute of those which are necessary to sustain them : 
and when one, whom fortune has borne to these lofty 
stations, reaches the height without stumbling, he 
must have encountered, from the beginning, many 
difficulties which taught him to stand firm on a place 
so slippery. Caesar possessed, in an eminent degree, 
all the qualities necessary to a great prince, yet nei- 
ther his courtesy, his prudence, his courage, his elo- 
quence, nor his liberality could have raised him to the 
empire of the world, had he not met with resistance 
in the Roman republic. The pretext afforded by 
the persecution of Pompey ; the reputation which 
their contests with each other gave him an opportuni- 
ty to acquire ; the advantages he derived from the 
division among his fellow citizens, were what, in real- 
ity, raised him to power ; and yet it appears to me 
that you are laboring to strengthen the family of Do- 
ria, by procuring it the only advantage it has not pos- 
sessed ; and because its high fortune has been too 
11* 



126 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

easily attained to be firmly secured, you resolve, in 
your impatience, to fortify it by efforts which, being 
too feeble to overthrow it, will serve only to justify 
his designs and establish his authority. 

" But I will, if you please, adopt your sentiments, 
and suppose that you have succeeded in all your de- 
signs. Imagine that all the family of Doria are mas- 
sacred, and that all the nobility, who belong to his 
party, are in irons ; imagine all your enemies over- 
thrown, and Spain and the empire unable to molest 
you; enjoy the certainty of a triumph in the midst 
of this universal desolation : If these gloomy images 
of destruction afford you pleasure, what course will 
you pursue in a city rendered desolate by you, and 
which will regard you rather as a new tyrant than as 
her deliverer ? What solid foundation will you be able 
to find on which you can support your acquired great- 
ness ? Could your confidence in the instability of the 
Genoese, who, the instant you have placed the crown 
on your head, if such be your intention, will, perhaps, 
regard you with horror, and think of nothing but the 
means of wresting it from you ? For, as 1 have al- 
ready observed, they are not capable of enjoying lib- 
erty, nor will they long endure the same master. Or 
should you again surrender Genoa to the domination 
of foreigners ; should you again open your gates to 
admit them, on the first act of oppression which they 
commit, she will consider you as the author of her 
ruin, and as the parricide of your country. Do you 
not fear that those, who are now the most zealous to 



AGAINST GENOA. 127 

serve you, will, from an unwillingness to be subject 
to your power, be the first to labor for your over- 
throw . ? And even if this feeling should not impel them 
to act thus, you cannot be ignorant that those who 
serve a rebel imagine they lay him under such strong 
obligations, that, as he can never reward them ac- 
cording to their claims, they almost always become 
his enemies. As those who fall down a mountain are 
torn to pieces by the same projecting rocks which they 
caught hold of to ascend, so those who fall from an 
exalted station are almost always ruined by the means 
which they had employed to rise. I am well aware 
that ambition animates persons of your condition, age, 
and talents, and that it places before your eyes pom- 
pous and dazzling images of glory and grandeur. 
But while your imagination exhibits to you all the 
objects of that passion which renders men illustrious, 
your judgment ought to regard it as that which 
most commonly renders them miserable, and as that 
which sacrifices certain good, for the attainment of 
uncertain hopes. Know that if, when properly direct- 
ed, it is the source of the noblest virtues, its excess 
also leads to the greatest crimes. Consider that it 
was ambition which formerly mingled so many poi- 
sons and sharpened so many poniards against usurp- 
ers and tyrants, and that it is the same passion which 
now urges you to become the Catiline of Genoa. 

" Do not flatter yourself that the motive, by which 
you are actuated, of preserving the liberty of the re- 
public, will be considered by the world as any thing 



128 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

more than the common pretence of all leaders of fac- 
tions ; and though nothing, in truth, but zeal for the 
public good, impels you to embark in this undertak- 
ing, yet do not expect that the world will ever do 
you the justice to believe it ; since, in all cases where 
actions may be attributed indifferently to vice or to 
virtue, and where the intention alone of the actor can 
justify them, mankind, who judge only from appear- 
ances, rarely put a favorable construction upon the 
most innocent ones. But in your enterprise, in what- 
ever light you view it, you can see nothing but mas- 
sacres and objects the most dismal, which the best 
intentions in the world cannot justify. Strive, then, 
to control your ambition ; and remember that you 
ought then only to follow its dictates, when it divests 
itself entirely of self-interest, and is guided solely by 
duty. There have been many conquerors who have 
ravaged nations and overturned thrones, and who did 
not possess that greatness of soul which regards, with 
equal eye, the highest elevation and the lowest abase- 
ment, success and misfortnne, pleasure and pain, life 
and death, and yet it is this love of true glory, this 
nobleness of soul, which makes men really great, and 
which raises them above the rest of the world. This 
species of glory, and this alone, can render you per- 
fectly happy, even should all the dangers, which you 
imagine, surround you ; and you cannot obtain the 
other without committing the blackest crimes. Seek 
this, therefore, for so prudence as well as virtue dic- 
tates, it being more useful, less dangerous, and more 
honorable." 



AGAINST GENOA. 129 

The count was sensibly affected by this discourse, 
the arguments appearing strong, and the confidence, 
which, from his earliest youth, he had reposed in the 
speaker, increasing their weight and force. Verrina, 
one of those who had been invited to the council, a 
man of extensive views, impetuous, fond of great en- 
terprises, an implacable enemy of the present govern- 
ment, almost ruined by his prodigality, strongly at- 
tached by interest and inclination to the count, im- 
mediately spoke thus in reply : 

" I should be astonished that a single man in Ge- 
noa, should be capable of uttering the sentiments you 
have just heard, if the sufferings, which the republic 
patiently endures, had left me the faculty of being as- 
tonished at any thing. When every one submits to 
oppression with such shameful servility, it is natural 
to conceal dissatisfaction, and to seek excuses for 
weakness. This insensibility is nevertheless a proof 
of the deplorable condition of the republic ; and Vin- 
cent Caicagno has correctly referred to it as the 
plainest symptom of the violence of our malady. But 
to me it seems unreasonable that we should reap no 
advantage from the knowledge which we have of our 
disease ; for nature itself instructs us, that we ought 
to be guided by it in applying the proper remedies. 
However, the health of this republic is not yet as des- 
perate as if all its members were corrupt ; and the 
count Fiesco, exalted in rank, in wealth, and in birth, 
above all others, directs his thoughts beyond the lim- 
ited views of the Genoese, and rises, by his courage. 



130 CONSPIRACY Or FIESCO 

above the general corruption. To ascertain whether 
a man is born for extraordinary actions, the advanta- 
ges of nature and fortune ought not solely to be re- 
garded, for there have been many persons who have 
possessed both in perfection, yet, during their whole 
lives, have remained in the beaten path of ordinary 
men ; but we ought to observe whether a man, en- 
joying these advantages, retains, in conjunctions preg- 
nant with evil, and in a country where tyranny is mak- 
ing rapid strides, the sentiments of virtue, and pre- 
serves from corruption the noble qualities with which 
nature endowed him ; for if, in these circumstances, 
he holds fast his integrity, and resists the contagion 
of those base maxims which infect the rest of the 
world, and especially men of rank, (for tyrants, fear- 
ing them most, take most pains to corrupt them ;) 
then we may presume that his reputation will, at 
some future time, be equal to his merit, and that for- 
tune designs him for something great, and even won- 
derful. Wherefore, sir, I know of no person from 
whom the republic may, with reason, expect such 
signal interposition as from you. You live in a time 
which presents you with no example of courage and 
generosity that is not punished, nor of baseness and 
treachery that is not rewarded. Add to this, you live 
in a country where the power of the house of Doria 
depresses, with abject fear, the courage of all the no- 
bility, or holds them bound in the servile fetters of in- 
terest ; and yet you have not fallen into this general 
degradation. You still cherish those noble sentiments 



AGAINST GENOA. 131 

which your illustrious birth inspires ; and your mind 
projects undertakings worthy of your valor. Do not 
forbear, therefore, to exercise those admirable quali- 
ties ; abuse not the talents which nature has conferred ; 
serve your country ; be convinced, by the excellence of 
your motives, that the actions they will produce must be 
great and glorious. A single individual of your rank 
and merit is capable of restoring the courage of the 
Genoese and of reviving their pristine love of liberty. 
Be persuaded that tyranny is the greatest evil that 
can afflict a republic. The condition, to which ours 
is reduced, resembles those diseases which, notwith- 
standing the dejection they produce, excite, in the 
mind of the patient, a vehement desire of recovery. 
Comply with the wishes of the whole people, who 
groan under the unjust domination of Doria. Second 
the prayers of the virtuous portion of the nobility, 
who deplore, in secret, the common calamity of the 
Genoese; and be assured, in fine, that, if weakness 
and baseness continue to spread among them, the 
blame will not rest so much upon Giannetino Doria 
for having produced it, by his insolence, as upon 
John Lewis Fiesco for having permitted it, by his ir- 
resolution. 

" The high esteem which your good qualities 
have procured you, is an important advantage which 
you have already gained. Let it not be said that 
your youth is an obstacle to the success of an enter- 
prise so glorious ; it is an age when the warmth of 
the blood, the source of the noblest courage, inspires 



132 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

none but elevated and generous designs ; and, in ex- 
traordinary undertakings, vigor and intrepidity are 
more requisite than the cool reflections of timid pru- 
dence which perceives all the dangers of a contempla- 
ted project. Besides, your reputation is so well es- 
tablished that I may say, without flattery, that, with 
all the charms of youth to attract friends, you have 
acquired that credit in the world which is ordinarily 
acquired only at a more advanced age. You are 
therefore, and it is fortunate that you are, under a 
strong obligation to maintain the high opinion which 
the public entertain of your virtue. 

" Convinced of your disinterestedness, I know not 
whether I ought to add, to the considerations arising 
out of the misfortunes of our republic, -motives which 
concern you personally ; but as there are conjunc- 
tures when interest is so closely connected with hon- 
or, that it is almost as disgraceful not to consult, as it 
is, at other times, noble to despise it, I beseech you 
to reflect in what situation you would be, should the 
present government continue much longer. Those 
who unite great merit to exalted birth have always 
two powerful enemies ; the envy of courtiers and the 
hatred of those who fill the highest offices. It is ex- 
tremely difficult to escape the first when one possesses 
splendid establishments ; and it is impossible to avoid 
the second, when one has independence of spirit and 
a high consideration in the world. Prudence and ci- 
vility may indeed allay the jealousy which interest ex- 
cites among equals, but they can never entirely dispel 



AGAINST GENOA. 133 

the distrust which a regard for their own safety plants 
in the minds of superiors. There are virtues so ex- 
cellent and imposing that they force envy itself to ren- 
der them homage. But, at the same time that they 
gain a victory over envy, they exasperate hatred. 
Hatred increases as merit rises ; and virtue, in these 
circumstances, resembles a vessel tossed by a tem- 
pest, which has no sooner surmounted one wave, than 
it encounters another more formidable than the first. 
" Can you be ignorant that Giannetino Doria feels 
a secret envy of your birth, so much more illustrious 
than his own? of your wealth, more honestly acquir- 
ed than that which he possesses ? and of your reputa- 
tion which surpasses by far whatever he can hope to 
attain . ? What reason have you to suppose, that the 
envy growing out of these considerations, and insti- 
gated by a vehement ambition, will give rise, in the 
mind of this imperious man, to nothing but feeble and 
irresolute purposes, and that it will not aim directly at 
your ruin ? Can you hope that when, by your pru- 
dence and by the force of your virtue, you shall have 
conquered his envy, you will be able to escape that 
hatred which the contrariety of your dispositions nat- 
urally produces in his breast ; and that his haughty 
spirit, which the prudence of Andrew Doria has hith- 
erto restrained, will longer tolerate the man who is 
the only obstacle to his designs ? As for me, I am 
persuaded that the consequences I have alluded to 
are inevitable, because you cannot divest yourself of 
the qualities that will produce them, nor change your 
12 



134 CONSPIRACY OP FIESCO 

nature and cease to be generous. But should it even 
be in your power to conceal, under a modest exteri- 
or, that loftiness of soul which raises you so far above 
common men, do you believe that Giannetino Doria, 
jealous as he is, and as all tyrants are, will not feel a 
constant distrust of your conduct ? All the marks of 
your moderation and patience would seem to him ar- 
tifices designed to ensnare and undo him. He would 
not consider it possible that a man, bearing the name 
of Fiesco, could be capable of such baseness ; and 
judging, rationally, that you were what you ought to 
be, he would make use, for your ruin, of that apparent 
submission which you would assume for your safety. 
All the difference, therefore, between what you now 
are, and what you would then be, would be merely 
this, that you would then certainly perish with eter- 
nal infamy ; when, by following the generous impul- 
ses of your nature, you may be assured that the only 
misfortune that can happen to you will be, to die in 
a glorious enterprise, and to obtain, in dying, the 
highest honor that was ever acquired by a private in- 
dividual. 

" If you perceive these things, and doubtless your 
sagacity enables you to perceive them more clearly 
than 1, there is no necessity for me to say more con- 
cerning them ; I request you merely to regard two 
important consequences which may be deduced 
from them. The first is, that those maxims are false 
which forbid us to anticipate an enemy who has de- 
termined to ruin us, and advise us to wait until he 



AGAINST GENOA. 135 

ruins himself. We deceive ourselves, if we believe 
that fortune raises to the highest stations those whom 
we hate, to give us the pleasure of witnessing their 
fall. Greatness is not always surrounded by preci- 
pices ; usurpers have not always been unfortunate ; 
Heaven, in fine, does not always, at the expected mo- 
ment, punish the wicked, that the righteous may be 
gratified, and be preserved from the injustice of those 
who would oppress them. Nature, more infallible 
than politicians, teaches us to prevent the evil which 
threatens us ; it becomes incurable while prudence is 
deliberating what remedy to apply. What advantage 
shall we gain by examining, with minute attention, the 
examples which have been set before us ? Is it not 
true that extreme subtilty of reasoning enervates our 
courage, and prevents the most glorious actions ? Ev- 
ery course of proceeding bears two different faces ; 
the same politicians, who blame Pompey, for strength- 
ening the power of Caesar by exasperating him, have 
applauded the conduct of Cicero in crushing Cati- 
line. The other consequence which may be deduced 
from these considerations is, that the talents which 
nature has given us ought not to resemble those faint 
and useless lights, which glimmer only, and do not 
warm. They ought rather to resemble the light of 
the sun which invigorates what it shines upon. Ele- 
vated thoughts should be followed by great effects ; 
and in the execution, as well as in the conception, of 
this enterprise, your courage should meet with noth- 
ing to prevent you from becoming the vanquisher of 



136 



CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 



monsters, the avenger of crimes, the refuge of the 
oppressed, the ally of kings, and the umpire of Italy. 
But if, at the present moment, that semblance of lib- 
erty which is yet visible in our republic, should pre- 
sent itself to your mind, I have reason to fear that it 
will check the course of your ambition ; for I know 
that a mind as scrupulous as yours and as jealous of 
honor, will dread the frightful appellations of rebel 
and traitor. 

" Yet these names of infamy, invented to terrify 
vulgar minds, attach no disgrace to those who bear 
them for extraordinary and successful actions. Scru- 
ples and greatness have ever been incompatible ; and 
the weak precepts of common prudence are bet- 
ter adapted to the school of the vulgar than to that 
of great men. The crime of usurping a crown is so 
splendid, that it may well pass for a virtue. Every 
condition of life has its peculiar criterion of reputa- 
tion. Men in inferior stations ought to be estimated 
by their moderation ; the great, by their courage and 
ambition. A miserable pirate, cotemporary with Al- 
exander, who amused himself in capturing little boats, 
passed for an infamous robber ; and that great con- 
queror, who wrested kingdoms from their rightful 
sovereigns, is yet applauded as a hero ; and if Cati- 
line is condemned as a traitor, Caesar is applauded as 
the greatest man that ever Jived. In short, I have 
but to bring to your mind, all the princes who reign 
at present in the world, and ask you if those, from 
whom they inherit their thrones, were not usurpers. 



AGAINST GENOA. 



137 



But if these maxims offend, in the least, your delica T 
cy of principle ; if the love of your country glows in 
your heart more intensely than the love of glory ; il 
there yet exists in your bosom some slight regard for 
the expiring authority of the republic, let us see what 
honor you will gain by respecting it, when your ene- 
mies disregard it ; and whether it would be for your 
advantage to incur the hazard of becoming their sub- 
ject. Would to God the republic shone in its pristine 
splendor ! No person would then, more earnestly than 
I, dissuade you from the design which I now recom- 
mend. If this republic, which now enjoys nothing of 
liberty but the name, could maintain her authority, 
feeble as it is, in the condition we now see it, I con- 
fess that there would be some reason for enduring our 
misfortunes with patience ; and that, if it were neither 
safe nor useful, it would at least, be generous, to sac- 
rifice our personal interests to that shadowy image 
which yet remains of its liberty : but now, when the 
arts of Andrew Doria have concentrated all the au- 
thority of the republic in himself, and when the arro- 
gance of Giannetino has assumed the control of all its 
forces ; now, when Genoa has reached that point of 
time in her existence, when, by that secret but inevi- 
table fatality which prescribes certain limits to the 
duration of power, a revolution must happen ; now, 
when the minds of her citizens are too much at vari- 
ance to live longer under the government of many ; 
in this extremity, I say, when we cannot banish tyr- 
anny but by establishing a legitimate monarchy, what 
12* 



138 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

shall we do ? Shall we present our throats to these 
butchers who, at the same time, seek our ruin and 
the destruction of liberty . ? Will the count John Lewis 
Fiesco witness, with patience, Giannetino Doria 
proudly ascending the throne of his country, to which 
his ambition and good fortune encourage him to as- 
pire, without possessing a single qualification that enti- 
tles him to it ? No, no, my lord, your courage must 
contend for that honor, an honor which is due to you 
alone. It is a circumstance at once rare and desira- 
ble, to find oneself so situated as to be impelled, as 
you now are, by regard for the public good and your 
own glory, to place a crown on your head. Fear not 
that this action will procure you the reputation of an 
interested person ; on the contrary, nothing but the 
fear of danger, which is thp basest of all passions, can 
prevent you from undertaking it ; and nothing but 
the love of glory, which is directly opposite to self- 
interest, is capable of prompting you to so noble a 
design. If you are so scrupulous that you cannot en- 
dure the appearance of blame, what shall prevent 
you from restoring to your republic the liberty which 
you will have acquired for her ; and from surrender- 
ing to her the crown which you will have so highly 
deserved ? Then you will have it in your power to 
display a signal proof of the contempt with which 
you regard all motives of interest when they have no 
connection with honor, 

i* The only remark which remains for me to make 
to you is that, in my opinion, you ought not to make 



AGAINST GENOA. 139 

use of the French. Any understanding with foreign- 
ers is always extremely odious ; and, in the present 
conjuncture, an understanding with the French can 
be of no advantage to you, because, as Calcagno has 
observed, France is sufficiently occupied in defend- 
ing herself against the forces of the empire and of 
Spain, which beset her on every side ; but even could 
you derive assistance from her, reflect that the change 
in your condition would be but a change of servi- 
tude ; you would become the slave of France, when 
you may become her ally. Determine, in fine, 
whether it be the proper course for a man of talents, 
of merit, and of rank like yourself, to endure every 
thing and submit to become the victim of the inso- 
lence of Doria ; and determine, also, whether you 
will hazard every thing to throw off the yoke of his 
tyranny, and expose yourself, without necessity, to 
become the slave of a foreign power, and remain, as 
before, in the condition of a private citizen." 

Raphael Sacco,. who acted as judge in the domin- 
ions of the house of Fiesco, and who was the third 
invited to this council, perceiving that the count in- 
clined decidedly to the sentiments of Verrina, thought 
it would be useless to controvert them ; and believing 
also that the project would be extremely hazardous, 
he was unwilling to advise him to undertake it ; he 
therefore did not express his sentiments on the sub- 
ject, referring the decision, as to the main design, 
entirely to the pleasure of his master. He confined 
himself to advising merely that, if the enterprise was 



140 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

resolved upon, the count ought to accept the aid of 
the French ) observing that it would be gross impru- 
dence not to employ all his credit and all the troops 
at his command when he hazarded his whole fortune ; 
that he could not comprehend why he should be ad- 
vised to oppose himself singly to the forces of the 
empire, of Spain and of Italy, which would assuredly 
be united against him ; that it might be possible, 
perhaps, to gain possession of a city by a conspiracy, 
but not to acquire the control of a state ; that this 
could not be effected but in a long course of years, 
and by means of armies and allies ; and that the idea 
of seizing on the sovereignty of Genoa, in the present 
state of European affairs, was a rash resolution, how- 
ever willing others might be to disguise it under the 
name of a glorious enterprise. Verrina opposed, with 
all his power, this reasoning of Raphael Sacco, and 
reminded the count of the arguments which he had 
urged on that point, in his discourse. And he now 
insisted, more earnestly than he had done, that the 
friendship of princes never outlives their interests ; 
and that, although the friendship of the house of Aus- 
tria to the Dorias seemed to be unchangeable, because 
the latter were useful to the former, yet it would end 
as soon as they ceased to be so. And moreover, if 
the emperor should perceive the count to be in a 
condition to assist or to injure him, he would soon for- 
get the services of others, and solicit his friendship. 
But if he invited the French to assist him, besides 
endangering his enterprise by a connection with a 



AGAINST GENOA. 141 

people who soon become weary of every thing, and 
whose attention to foreign affairs is subject to the fre- 
quent revolutions which happen within the kingdom, 
and depends on the disposition of those who are in of- 
fice, he would preclude all accommodation with the em- 
peror, whose power in Italy was greater than theirs. It 
would be in season to solicit the aid of France, after 
he had ascertained that he could form no alliance 
with the emperor. In this case, it would be so much 
the interest of the French not to desert him that they 
would not fail to assist him, because, while he re- 
mained master of Genoa, they would be in constant 
fear that he would unite with their enemies, if they 
refused the assistance necessary for his defence. 
And furthermore, to ensure success there was no ne- 
cessity for greater forces than those he could furnish 
himself, for he well knew that there were but two 
hundred and fifty soldiers in Genoa, and that the gal- 
lies of Giannetino Doria were completely disarmed. 

These reasons convinced the count, because they 
were conformable to his natural inclination to glory, 
and to his greatness of soul, which deemed nothing 
difficult that was honorable. He resolved to attempt 
the execution of his design with his own means, and 
to employ none but the friends and adherents which 
his illustrious birth, his uncommon affability, his pro- 
fuse liberality, and all his other good qualities had se- 
cured him. 

There are many persons, who have merit, courage, 
and ambition, and who form general resolutions to 



142 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

raise themselves to high stations, and to improve their 
condition in the world ; but we meet with few who, 
having formed these resolutions, know how to choose 
the proper mode to accomplish them, and who do not 
sometimes relax in that constant exertion which is 
necessary to ensure success ; or, when they do exert 
themselves, it is almost always at an improper time, or 
in an improper manner, and with too much anxiety 
for the result. And this is so true that, in affairs of 
this nature, most men deliberate longer than is neces- 
sary before they resolve, but do not allow themselves 
time enough to execute their determinations. They 
do not, in season, aim to accommodate their actions 
to the object they have in view, to regulate all their 
steps by the plan they have formed, to establish a rep- 
utation, to acquire friend?, nor, in short, to render all 
their conduct subservient to their principal design. 
On the contrary, we often see them suddenly change 
their course, their minds seem agitated and over-bur- 
thened by the secret and the weight of their enter- 
prise, and amidst the changes and irregularity of their 
conduct, they say or do something which gives an ad- 
vantage to those who watch them, or offence to their 
enemies. 

The count Fiesco wisely avoided these errors ; 
for, conscious of an ardent desire for distinction, and 
persuaded that he should, at some future time, be 
able to concentrate his general inclination upon some 
particular design favorable to his elevation, this 
thought assumed the entire mastery of his faculties ; 



AGAINST GENOA. 143 

and as he had naturally an incredible thirst for glory 
and great address in establishing a reputation, he so 
conducted himself that the eminent qualities he dis- 
played, seemed to proceed from his natural disposi- 
tion, and not to be studied nor affected. His counte- 
nance always appeared serene, open, pleasant, and 
even jovial. He was civil to every body, but made 
proper and flattering distinctions according to merit 
and rank ; he was so profuse in his liberality that he 
anticipated the wants of his friends. Thus he gained 
the poor by his munificence, and the rich by his cour- 
tesy. He faithfully observed his engagements ; he 
displayed an ardor to oblige which never remitted ; 
his house was open and his table free to all who 
came ; he was generous in all things even to excess ; 
and no one was ever so firmly persuaded as he that 
avarice, reserve, and pride, obscure the most shining 
qualities of great men. But what gave an extraordi- 
nary lustre to those he possessed was the manly 
beauty of his person and his graceful and dignified 
manners, which attested his illustrious birth, and en- 
gaged the esteem and respect of all. 

This behavior secured, to that degree, the affec- 
tions of his friends, that not one of those, who prom- 
ised to serve him, were unfaithful or indiscreet — an 
extraordinary circumstance, indeed, in a conspiracy, 
where so many actors and so much secrecy are nec- 
essary that, even should no one prove unfaithful, it 
would be remarkable that no one should be impru- 
dent. But it is still more wonderful that his conduct, 



144 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

though uniformly such as I have described, and ob- 
served by his enemies, did not excite their distrust ; 
they believing that whatever was too ostentatious in 
his behavior should be attributed rather to his natural 
disposition than to any particular design he had 
formed. 

This, without doubt, was one of the causes that in- 
duced Andrew Doria to slight the information, con- 
cerning the enterprise, which he received from Fer- 
dinand Gonzague and two or three others : I say one 
of the causes, for, although the behavior of Fiesco 
contributed to lull the suspicion of this old politician, 
who was exceedingly jealous of his authority, there 
must, nevertheless, have been some other cause for 
this extraordinary blindness. But it is difficult to 
discover what it was, unless we refer to an overruling 
providence, which delights in showing the vanity of 
human prudence, and in confounding the presumption 
of those who flatter themselves they can divine the 
most secret thoughts of men, and judge, with infalli- 
ble certainty, of all human actions. This presump- 
tion is never more ridiculous than in those great ge- 
niuses whom continued study, profound meditation 
and long experience have raised so high above com- 
mon men, and inflated with such self-conceit, that 
they rely implicitly upon their own judgment, in the 
most intricate affairs, and listen to the advice of oth- 
ers only to despise it. It is certain that most of those 
extraordinary men, whom others consult as oracles, 
and who, in matters which do not concern them, have 



AGAINST GENOA. 145 

a quick insight into futurity, are almost always blind 
in regard to their own interests. They are more 
unfortunate than others, for they will not be guid- 
ed either by their own reason or by that of their 
friends. 

The act of generosity, which most augmented the 
partisans of Fiesco among the people, was that of af- 
fording relief to the silk-spinners, who constituted a 
considerable portion of the inhabitants of Genoa. 
They, at that time, suffered extremely from want oc- 
casioned by the recent wars. The count, apprised 
by their consul of their miserable condition, evinced 
much compassion for their poverty, and requested 
him to send to his palace those who had the most 
need of assistance. He supplied them liberally with 
money and provisions, and requested them to say 
nothing of the presents he gave them, as he desired no 
other reward than the internal satisfaction he derived 
from relieving the afflicted. In dispensing his bounty, 
he displayed all the courteousness and obliging civil- 
ity which was natural to him, and gained so entirely 
the hearts of these poor people, that ever afterwards, 
they were wholly devoted to his service. 

But if, by his generosity, he gained the esteem and 
love of the lower class of citizens, he did not forget to 
secure the good will of those at the head of this class, 
by the praises of liberty which he often, with much 
address, introduced into his discourse. From this 
they inferred that, although he belonged to the nobil- 
ity, he was too reasonable and just not to feel a lively 
13 



146 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

compassion for the people groaning under the op- 
pression of their rulers. 

There are some who accuse the republic of indis- 
cretion on this occasion, and maintain that it was ex- 
tremely imprudent, in the senate, to suffer the count 
thus to conciliate every body, and to take such means 
to gain the hearts of his fellow-citizens. I cannot 
deny that the maxim, on which this accusation is 
founded, has been considered correct by subtle and 
refined politicians : its object being to prevent private 
individuals from acquiring great influence, it may, 
with some reason, be thought that its effect will be 
to promote the general safety ; but I am convinced 
it is an erroneous maxim, for it changes the nature of 
good qualities, rendering them hurtful or dangerous 
to the possessor. I consider it even pernicious, be- 
cause, exposing merit to suspicion, it stifles the seeds 
of virtue, and creates such a disgust for the pursuit of 
glory, that men will not zealously undertake to per- 
form meritorious actions, and will be diverted, by the 
fear of offending the government, from those which 
might be useful to the state. It happens, also, that, 
instead of confining bold and intrepid men within the 
limits of that equality which it inculcates, it sometimes 
impels them to give a freer course to their ambition, 
and to take violent measures to relieve themselves 
from restraint so tyrannical. 

The count did not rely so implicitly upon the good 
will of the populace as to neglect to secure the aid of 
soldiers, who are essentially necessary in enterprises 



AGAINST GENOA, 147 

of this nature. In the beginning of the summer, he 
left Genoa, apparently to visit his estates, but in real- 
ity to ascertain what number of men who had served 
in war, could be found among his vassals, and to train 
them in martial exercises, upon the pretence that he 
apprehended an attack from the duke of Placentia. 
He wished also to give the necessary orders for exe- 
cuting the design he had formed, of introducing se- 
cretly, and at the proper time, a number of his parti- 
sans into Genoa, and to ascertain the sentiments of 
the duke, who engaged to furnish him two thousand 
of his best troops. 

The count, returning about the end of autumn, con- 
tinued to behave as he had done, and moreover prac- 
tised a profound dissimulation, in regard to the family 
of Doria ; professing, on every occasion, a great 
veneration for Andrew, and cordial friendship for 
Giannetino. His motive was to convince the world 
that their recent divisions were entirely adjusted, and 
to show them that his friendship was sincere, and 
might be relied on. 

If it is true that the count, on the day of the exe- 
cution of his enterprise, said that he had long before 
been informed that Giannetino had resolved on his ru- 
in, and that this violent and wicked man, who was 
kept in restraint only by Andrew, perceiving that his 
uncle was subject to dangerous infirmities, had com- 
manded captain Lercaro to despatch all who belong- 
ed to the family of Fiesco, the moment he should 
die 5 that he had authentic letters by which he could 



148 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

prove, that this same Giannetino had attempted, 
three several times, to poison him ; and that he was, 
besides, assured that the emperor intended to confer 
on him the sovereignty of Genoa ; if, I say, all this 
is true, I do not think the dissimulation of the count 
can justly be blamed ; for, when life or the safety of 
our country is at stake, frankness is a virtue out of 
season, nature teaching us, by the instinct of the smal- 
lest animals, that, in such extremities, the use of 
stratagem to preserve ourselves from danger, and our 
country from oppression, is justifiable and proper. 

But if the accusations of the count were only calum- 
nies against the family of Doria, invented to justify 
his designs, and to exasperate the people, it cannot be 
denied that these false tokens of friendship, indica- 
tive of so much affection, were artifices unworthy of 
his great courage. And it would, without doubt, be 
difficult to justify such conduct, except by the neces- 
sity which the power and insolence of Giannetino im- 
posed upon him to behave in this manner. 

The count had bought four gallies, which he main- 
tained, under the name of his brother Jerome, with 
funds furnished by the pope. Convinced that the 
step most essential to the success of his design was to 
render himself master of the port, he ordered one of 
these gallies to Genoa, pretending that he intended 
to despatch it, on a cruise, to the Levant ; and, at 
the same time, he, without exciting suspicion, intro- 
duced into the city, a party of soldiers who came 
from his estates, and from the duchy of Placcntia. 



AGAINST GENOA. 149 

some of them passing for soldiers of the garrison, 
some for adventurers in quest of employment, some 
for sailors, and man}' even for galley slaves. 

Verrina artfully dispersed, among the companies 
belonging to the city, fifteen or twenty soldiers who 
were vassals of the count, and corrupted others be- 
longing to the garrison. He obtained, from persons 
of the most enterprise and and influence among the 
people, promises of every assistance they could ren- 
der, to execute a design which, as he told them, he 
had formed against some of their enemies. Calcag- 
no and Sacco, on their part, labored with diligence 
and industry ; and I cannot better describe the ad- 
dress, with which these four persons managed this 
enterprise, than by saying that, without disclosing 
the real object to any one, they engaged in their ser- 
vice more than ten thousand men. 

Matters being thus arranged, nothing remained but 
to select a day for the execution of the enterprise ; 
and this was found somewhat difficult. Verrina was 
of opinion that the two Dorias, Adam Centurione, 
and such of the nobility as were attached to that par- 
ty, should be invited to attend a mass to be celebrated 
by a priest of distinction, being the first time he offi- 
ciated, when it was usual to invite persons of rank to 
be present ; and he offered to kill them himself. 
This proposition was instantly rejected by the count, 
who, struck with horror, exclaimed that he would 
never consent to profane the holiest mystery of his 
religion to facilitate the success of his design. It was 
13* 



150 



CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 



then proposed that they should take the opportunity 
of the marriage of a sister of Giannetino Doria with 
Julius Cibo, marquis of Massa, a brother-in-law of 
the count ; and they concluded their design could 
then be executed with ease, as the count would have 
a pretence for inviting all the relations of that family 
to an entertainment, where he might massacre them 
at once. But the generous feelings of the count, as 
many assert, and as may be easily believed of a man 
of his disposition, impelled him also to reject the 
practice of such treachery ; yet the partisans of Do- 
ria have asserted that he had determined to make use 
of this opportunity, but that Giannetino being obliged, 
on that day, to leave Genoa on business, he altered his 
purpose. At length, after much deliberation, the 
night of the second of January was selected, and to 
this effect the necessary orders were judiciously giv- 
en, Verrina, Calcagno and Sacco directing those 
they had engaged. The count caused a great quan- 
tity of arms to be brought to his house ; he sent per^ 
sons to examine the posts of which he had resolved to 
take possession ; he introduced, by small numbers at 
a time, and without noise, into a building contiguous 
to his palace, the soldiers who were destined to ex- 
ecute the first part of the enterprise ; and the day 
having arrived, he, to conceal his design, visited 
many of his friends, and even went, in the evening, 
to the palace of Doria. There, observing the chil- 
dren of Giannetino, he took them one by one in his 
arms, and caressed them a long time, in the presence 



AGAINST GENOA. 151 

of their father, whom he requested to give orders to 
the commander of his gallies not to interpose any ob- 
stacle to the departure of his own galley, which was 
to set sail, that evening, for the Levant. He took 
leave of him, with the ordinary civilities ; and, when 
returning home, he stopped at the house of Thomas 
Assereto, where he found upwards of thirty gentlemen 
who were popular in the city, and whom Verrina had 
the address to collect at that place. These he invited 
to sup with him at his palace. He then sent Verrina 
throughout the city, to the senate house, and to the 
palace of Doria, to ascertain whether any one had 
knowledge or suspicion of his design ; and after hav- 
ing learned that every thing was quiet as usual, he 
gave orders that the doors of his palace should be 
shut, that all should nevertheless be admitted, who 
expressed a wish to see him, but that no one should 
be permitted to go out. 

Perceiving that those whom he had invited as 
guests were extremely surprised to find, instead of a 
feast which they expected, nothing but arms, persons 
unknown to them, and soldiers, he requested them to 
repair to a large hall, where, displaying in his counte- 
nance a lofty and confident courage, he thus addres- 
sed them : 

" My friends, it is too much to endure the insolence 
of Giannetino, and the tyranny of Andrew Doria. U 
we wish to secure our lives and our liberty from the 
danger which threatens them, we have not a moment 
to lose. Is there one here who can be ignorant, that 



152 



CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO- 



the republic is in imminent peril? To what use, do 
you imagine, are destined the twenty gallies that he- 
siege your harbor ? For what purpose have so many 
troops been collected, so many arrangements made ? 
Behold them ready to triumph over our patience, and 
to raise their unjust authority upon the ruins of the 
state. We must no longer deplore our sufferings in 
secret ; we must hazard every thing to obtain deliv- 
erance. As the distemper is violent, so also must be 
the remedy ; and if the fear of falling into a state of 
degrading servitude can have any effect upon your 
minds, it is incumbent on you to make an effort to 
break your chains, and to anticipate those who wish 
to fasten them forever upon you-; for I cannot imag- 
ine that you are capable of enduring any longer the 
injustice of the uncle, and the arrogance of the 
nephew. I do not believe, I say, that there is one 
among you of a temper to submit to those as masters, 
who ought to be content to be your equals. Even 
were we regardless of the safety of the republic, we 
cannot be of our own. Each one of us has too many 
wrongs to revenge ; and our vengeance will be, at 
the same time, legitimate and glorious ; for our pri- 
vate resentments mingle with our zeal for the public 
good, and we cannot abandon our own interests with- 
out betraying those of our country. It depends upon 
you alone to secure her safety, and your own ; you 
have only to resolve to be happy, and you will be so. 
I have provided against every thing which could ob- 
struct your success ; 1 have opened to you the career 



AGAINST GENOA. 153 

of glory, and I am ready to show you the way, if you 
are disposed to follow. These preparations which 
you witness, ought, at this time, to animate you more 
than they have surprised you ; and the astonishment 
which I observed, at first, on your countenance, ought 
to change to the glorious resolution to employ, with 
vigor, these arms to effect the destruction of our com- 
mon enemies, and the establishment of our indepen- 
dence. I should insult your courage, if I imagined 
you capable, after seeing these arms, of hesitating, an 
instant, what use you ought to make of them. Suc- 
cess is rendered sure by the perfect arrangements I 
have made ; it will be beneficial from the advantages 
you will receive; it will be just by reason of the op- 
pressions you endure ; and it will, in fine, be glori- 
ous from the grandeur of the enterprise. I could 
prove, by these letters which you now see, that the 
emperor has promised to bestow on Andrew Doria, 
the sovereignty of Genoa, and that he is prepared to 
execute his promise. I could show, by other letters 
which I have in my possession, that Giannetino has 
attempted, three several times, to suborn wretches to 
poison me. It would be easy to convince you that 
he has given orders to Lercaro to assassinate me and 
all my family, the instant his uncle dies. But the 
knowledge of these treacherous intentions, detestable 
and infamous as they are, would add nothing to the 
horror with which you already regard these monsters, 
Methinks I see your eyes sparkle with that noble ar- 
dor which demands honorable vengeance. T perceive. 



154 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

you are more impatient than I to give entire license to 
your resentment, to secure your property, your re- 
pose, and the honor of your families. Let us then, 
my dear fellow citizens, save the reputation of Genoa ; 
let us preserve the independence of our country ; and 
let us show the whole world that there yet exists, in 
this republic, good men who have the heart to bring 
tyrants to destruction." 

This discourse astonished the assembly, but as al- 
most all of them were ardent in their attachment to 
the count, and as some of them, in addition to this at- 
tachment, felt exalted hopes of advantage in case the 
enterprise succeeded, and others feared his resent- 
ment if they refused to follow his fortunes, they prom- 
ised to serve him to the utmost of their power. Two 
only of the whole number, either because their peace- 
ful occupations or timorous dispositions rendered them 
incapable (as they said) of serving in an enterprise 
where many dangers were to be encountered and 
many murders committed, or because they felt a sin- 
cere attachment to the family of Doria, or some of his 
party, which they concealed under the appearance of 
timidity, prayed to be excused from engaging in the 
project. The count urged them no farther, but con- 
tented himself with confining them to deprive them 
of the power of revealing his design. The mildness 
with which he treated these two persons prevents me 
from believing, what several historians, hostile to his 
reputation, have published, that in his discourse to 
the assembly he uttered nothing but threats against 



AGAINST GENOA. 155 

those who should refuse to assist him ; and I think 
we may, with reason, form the same opinion, in re- 
gard to the impious and cruel expressions, which they 
accuse him of having used, on the evening of the ex- 
ecution of his enterprise. For is it probable that a 
man of his condition, born with an ardent inclination 
to acquire glory, could have permitted his passions 
to betray him into the use of expressions which can- 
not be recollected but with horror, and which could 
not, in any manner, have been useful to his designs ? 
However the fact may be, as soon as he had finished 
his address to the assembly, and explained to them 
the arrangements he had made, he repaired to the 
apartment of his wife. As she suspected that the 
great preparations which had been made in the pal- 
ace, were destined, by her husband, for some dan- 
gerous enterprise, he found her in tears. He there- 
fore thought that he ought no longer to conceal from 
her his intentions, but he endeavored to calm her 
apprehensions by all the arguments he could devise, 
representing to her how far he had proceeded, and 
that it was impossible now to retreat. She made all 
imaginable efforts to divert him from his undertaking, 
exerting all the influence which his affection gave 
her over his mind. But neither her tears nor her 
prayers could shake his resolution. Paul Pansa, who 
had been his tutor, and for whom he felt a high ven- 
eration, united with the countess, and omitted nothing 
to recal him to the observance of the duties of a good 
citizen, nor to convince him of the hazard he incur- 



156 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

• 

red in pursuing his object. The count was as little 
influenced by the advice of his tutor, as he had been by 
the caresses and tears of his wife. He had (as is said 
of Caesar) passed the Rubicon ; and, returning to 
the hall, where he had left his guests, he gave the 
last orders for the execution of his enterprise. He 
commanded one hundred and fifty men, chosen from 
the whole body of soldiers, to go that part of the city 
called the Burough, whither he was to follow them, 
accompanied by the nobility. He ordered Cornelius, 
his illegitimate brother, as soon as they had arrived 
at the Burough, to take thirty of this number, and 
gain possession of the gate of the arch. Jerome and 
Ottoban, his brothers, with Vincent Calcagno, were 
directed to take possession of that of St. Thomas, at 
the instant they heard the cannon of Fiesco's galley. 
This galley was commanded by Verrina, and was in 
readiness to close the entrance into the dock, and to 
invest the gate of Doria's palace. The count was to 
repair, by land, to this gate, after having, with as lit- 
tle noise as possible, placed, on his way, detachments 
at St. Andrew's and St. Donat's arches, and at the 
square des Sauvages. Thomas Assereto was com- 
manded to seize this gate, giving the countersign, 
which he could easily know, as he held an office un- 
der Giannetino Doria. As this was the most impor- 
tant part of the enterprise, because, if it did not suc- 
ceed, those who were in the count's galley could have 
no communication with the other conspirators, it was 
thought expedient, to ensure success, that Scipio 



AGAINST GENOA. 157 

Borgognino, one of the count's vassals and an intrepid 
soldier, should force his way, with armed feluccas, 
into the dock, and land on that side, at the moment 
when Assereto should make the attack on the other. 
It was also determined that, as soon as Jerome and 
Ottoban Fiesco had become masters of St. Thomas' 
gate, which was near Doria's palace, one of them 
should force his way into the paiace and kill Andrew 
and Giannetino ; and as there was reason to believe 
that Giannetino, awakened by the noise at the gates, 
might throw himself into Lewis Julia's felucca and 
hasten thither to give orders, three armed feluccas 
were stationed there to prevent it. To these partic- 
ular orders a general one was added, that all the 
conspirators should call to the people with the name 
of Fiesco, and cry Liberty, in order that those citi- 
zens, of whose attachment they were well assured, 
might not be deceived, and that, knowing the count 
was the leader of the enterprise, they might join his 
party. 

It is not easy to decide whether it would not have 
been more advantageous and safe to have kept united 
in one body all these troops, who were despatched to 
positions distant from each other. Their number was 
sufficiently large to authorise the belief that, if they 
had entered the city at one place, they would have 
driven all before them, and would, wherever they 
went, have induced the people to join the victorious 
party ; but, being divided, they could act but feebly, 
were liable to commit mistakes, and to be defeated, 
14 



158 CONSPIRACY OP FIESCO 

one division after another ; for nothing is more true 
than that it requires uncommon exactness to assign 
the precise moment for several combined attacks, and 
unusual good fortune for all to succeed alike. On 
these occasions, so many arms and so many heads 
must concur in the same action, that the least error 
in one often disconcerts all the rest, as the disorder 
of a single wheel may stop the motion of the greatest 
machine. And furthermore it would be very surpris- 
ing if, in the night and amidst the tumult which gene- 
rally accompanies attempts of this kind, either the 
courage or the discretion of some one of the conspi- 
rators should not fail him, and that, dreading the dan- 
ger which was near more than that which was remote, 
he should not repent his engagement ; but when all 
march in a body, example animates and encourages 
the most timid, who are drawn onward by the multi- 
tude, and do from necessity what the brave do from 
courage. 

Those who adopt the opposite opinion maintain 
that, in enterprises of this kind which are executed 
by night, in a city where the conspirators act in con- 
cert with many others, where most of the inhabitants 
are favorably disposed, and where they may gain 
possession of the principal posts before their enemies 
are in a condition to contend with them, it is more 
advisable to form several parties, and make separate 
attacks, in many places ; because, by giving, at the 
same time, several alarms, in distant parts, those who 
act on the defensive are obliged to divide their forces, 



AGAINST GENOA. 159 

without knowing how many to detach, and the terror, 
which these sudden alarms generally occasion, is much 
greater when the noise proceeds from every quarter 
than when attention is called to only one ; besides, 
where the streets are narrow, like those of Genoa, 
a small number can effect all that a larger can, and 
ten men, attacked in front, with the help o r a slight 
barricade, may stop a hundred times as many of the 
bravest soldiers, and gain time for those who are be- 
hind to rally. In fine, those who are of this opinion 
think that, in an enterprise like this, it is less advanta- 
geous to the conspirators, they having the good will of 
a majority of the citizens, to unite their forces in one 
body, than to disperse them into different parts of the 
city ; because then the whole are aroused at once, 
and they take arms the more readily when they per- 
ceive others do the same, and are more capable of 
rendering service when they act with regular troops 
and have persons of credit to lead them. 

All these reasons being impartially considered, it is 
my opinion that the count conducted judiciously ; for 
it appears to me that, on this occasion, he had 
less reason than is commonly the case to fear 
the inconveniences just mentioned. His party was 
composed, not merely of soldiers and nobles, but also 
of a multitude of citizens, upon whose attachment he 
relied ; so that, having numerous friends in all parts 
of Genoa, he had reason to believe that the garrison, 
which was extremely weak, and those who were not 
friendly to him, could not oppose any obstacle to the 



I 

100 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 



success of his design, nor make sufficient resistance 
to dishearten those who should join his party. For 
these reasons, when he left his palace, he divided hii 
men according to the plan he had devised ; and, at 
the moment when the report of the cannon on board 
his galley, which had been appointed as the signal, 
was heard, Cornelius surprised the guard stationed at 
the gate of the arch, and gained possession of it with- 
out difficulty. Ottoban and Jerome, brothers of the 
count, accompanied by Calcagno and sixty soldiers, 
found more resistance at St. Thomas' Gate, where 
Captain Sebastian Lercaro, and his brother, for a con- 
siderable time, maintained their post. But the latter 
being killed, and the former taken, and some of their 
men, who had been previously gained, having declar- 
ed in favor of Fiesco, the guard fled, abandoning 
their post to the conspirators. Giannetino Doria, 
awakened either by the tumult at the gate, or by the 
outcry which, at the same time, w r as made in the 
harbor, rose in haste ; and accompanied only by a 
page, who carried a flambeau before him, he ran to 
St. Thomas' gate, where, being recognized by the 
conspirators, he was killed as soon as he arrived. 

This precipitancy of Giannetino saved Andrew 
Doria's life, and gave him time to mount a horse and 
retire fifteen miles from Genoa ; for Jerome, who had 
been directed by his brother to force the palace of 
Doria, the instant he was master of St. Thomas' gate, 
seeing that Giannetino was killed, preferred the pre- 
servation of the immense riches which were in tha 



AGAINST GENOA. 



I6t 



palace, and which he could not easily have saved 
from the soldiers, to the capture of Andrew Doria, 
whom he considered an inefficient old man, that it 
would be useless to sacrifice. 

In the midst of these occurrences at the gate of 
St. Thomas, Assereto and Scipio Borgognino execu- 
ted the orders which had been given them with com- 
plete success. They killed all who made any resist- 
ance at the gate by the dock, and pressed the rest 
with such vigor that they had not time to rally, and 
at last they took possession of that important post. 

The count, after having, on his way, posted detach- 
ments at the places he considered the most impor- 
tant, arrived at the dock, the entrance to which he 
found unobstructed, and joined Verrina, who had al- 
ready, with his galley, attacked those of prince Do- 
ria. They were almost destitute of arms, and he 
took possession of them with ease; but fearing that, 
in this confusion, the crew of the admiral's galley, 
where he heard considerable noise, would rise upon 
their guard, he hastened to give orders concerning 
it ; and, when he was on the point of entering that 
galley, the plank on which he passed overturned, and 
he fell into the sea. His armor, which was heavy, 
and the mud, which in this place was deep, prevent- 
ed him from rising again to the surface : and the dark- 
ness of the night, and the noise on every side, con- 
cealed from those around him all knowledge of the 
accident ; so that, without knowing the loss they 
had sustained, they continued their exertions, and 
14* 



162 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

at length gained possession of the harhor and the gal- 
lies. 

Ottoban, who, after executing the duty first assign- 
ed him, had repaired to this place, remained there to 
command ; and Jerome, who had followed him, 
posting Vincent Calcagno at the gate of St. Thomas, 
left the harbor, with two hundred men, to arouse the 
populace in the streets, and rally around him as many 
as he could. Verrina did the same in another direc- 
tion, and both having collected a multitude of people, 
no one dared to appear without declaring for Fiesco. 
The greater part of the nobility remained shut up at 
home during the commotion, each fearing the plunder 
of his house ; the most courageous repaired to the 
senate house, accompanied by the imperial ambassa- 
dor, who was on the point of flying from the city, but 
was prevented by the remonstrances of Paul Lasag- 
na, a man much respected by the people. Cardinal 
Doria, and Adam Centurione went thither also, and 
they, with Nicholas Franco, the chief of the republic, 
there being then no duke, resolved to despatch Bon- 
iface Lomellino, Christopher Pallavicini, and Antho- 
ny Calva, with fifty soldiers of the garrison, to the 
defence of St. Thomas' Gate. But these, having 
met a body of the conspirators, and being deserted 
by a part of their number, were obliged to retire into 
the house of Adam Centurione. Finding there Fran- 
cis Grimaldi, Dominic Doria, and several other gen- 
tlemen, they resumed their courage and returned, by 
a different route, to the gate. But they found it so 



AGAINST GENOA. 163 

well guarded, and were attacked with such vigor, 
that they retreated, leaving Boniface Lomellino pris- 
oner, who distinguished himself, in this action, by his 
courage, and happily escaped from the conspirators. 
The Senate having found that nothing could be 
effected by force, had recourse to remonstrances. 
They deputed Jerome de Fiesco, a relation of the 
count, and Jerome Canevale to demand the reason 
of this commotion ; and immediately after, Cardinal 
Doria, who was allied to him, together with John 
Baptist Lercaro, and Bernard Castagna, both sena- 
tors, resolved, at the desire of the senate, to go and 
speak to the count and endeavor to appease him. 
But, perceiving that every thing was in such confu- 
sion that, if he ventured into the city, he should, with- 
out any prospect of advantage, expose his dignity to 
the insolence of a furious populace, he declined 
leaving the senate house. The senate then gave the 
same commission to Augustine Lomellino, Hector 
Fiesco, Ansaldo Justiniani, Ambrose Spinola, and 
John Balliano, who, perceiving a party of armed men 
coming towards them, supposed the count was among 
them, and stopped at St. Siro to wait for him. As 
soon as the conspirators saw them, they attacked 
them, and made Lomellino and Hector Fiesco flee. 
Ansaldi Justiniani stood firm, and, addressing Jerome, 
who led the party, he enquired, in the name of the 
republic, for the count. The conspirators had just 
learnt that he was dead. Verrina, after having, for 
a long time, sought him in vain, had returned to his 



164 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

galley in despair, hearing from all quarters that he 
was no where to be found. Jerome, therefore, bold- 
ly and very imprudently answered Justiniani, that it 
was now too late to seek for any count but himself, 
and demanded that the palace should be instantly 
surrendered to him. 

The senate, discovering from this reply that the 
count was dead, resumed their courage, and sent 
twelve gentlemen to rally as many of the guard, and 
of the people, as they could put in a posture of de- 
fence. Some, even of those most ardently attached 
to Fiesco, began to be alarmed. Many, who had not 
so much affection for Jerome as they had had for his 
brother, nor so much confidence in his talents, disper- 
sed the moment they heard of his death. Confusion 
entering the party of the conspirators, those in the 
senate house perceived it, and deliberated whether 
they should attack them, or negotiate with them. 
The first course was proposed as the most honorable, 
but the last was adopted as the most safe. Paul 
Pansa, a man of high consideration in the republic, 
and constant in his attachment to the family of Fiesco, 
was selected as the most proper agent for this pur- 
pose. The senate instructed him to offer to Jerome 
a full pardon for himself and all his accomplices. He 
consented, by the persuasions of Pansa, to accept 
these terms ; and the pardon was signed and sealed, 
with all the requisite formalities, by Ambrose Senare- 
gua, the secretary of the republic. Jerome thereup- 
on left Genoa, accompanied by his whole party, and 



AGAINST GENOA. 



165 



retired to Montobio. Ottoban, Verrina. Calcagno, 
and Sacco, who had escaped in Fiesco's galley, took 
the route towards France, and after sending back un- 
hurt Lercaro, Manfredo, Centurione and Vaccaro, 
whom they had taken at St. Thomas' gate, they arriv- 
ed at Marseilles. At the end of four days, the body 
of the count was found, and having been exposed for 
a short time, on the shore, was thrown into the sea by 
the order of Andrew Doria. Benedict Centurione 
and Dominic Doria were sent to Andrew to condole 
with him, in the name of the republic, on the death of 
Giannetino, and to conduct him again to the city, 
where he was received with all imaginable honors. 
He went the next day to the senate, and in a violent 
speech, which he took care should be supported by 
his friends, he represented that the republic was not 
bound to abide by the agreement which had been 
made with the Fiescos, because it had been conclud- 
ed contrary to all precedent, and signed, as it were, 
sword in hand. He dwelt on the danger of permit- 
ting subjects to treat, in this manner, with their sove-^ 
reign ; and insisted that to suffer a crime of this mag-^ 
aitude to pass unpunished would be an example fatal 
to the republic. In short, Andrew Doria concealed, 
with so much address, his private views under the 
veil of public good, and exerted so efficiently his au- 
thority to accomplish his desire of vengeance, tbat, al- 
though many could not approve such a violation of the 
public faith, the senate nevertheless declared all the 
conspirators guilty of high treason, ordered the mag-- 



166 



CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 



nificent palace of Fiesco to be razed to the ground, 
condemned to death his brothers and the leaders of 
his party, banished, for fifty years, all who had the 
Jeast concern in the enterprise, and decreed that Je- 
rome Fiesco should be ordered to surrender to the re- 
public the fortress of Montobio. The last decree was 
not so easy to be executed as the others ; and as the 
place was strong, as well by its situation as its fortifi- 
cations, upon which the conspirators were constantly 
at work, they resolved, before they resorted to force, 
the success of which is always doubtful, to try all 
gentle means of inducing the Fiescos to surrender it. 
Paul Pansa was directed to repair thither immediate- 
ly, and to offer reasonable conditions to Jerome, on 
the part of the republic ; but he made no other re- 
ply than reproaches for the violation of their solemn 
engagements, and an indignant refusal to enter into 
any treaty with the Genoese. The emperor, fearing 
that the French would obtain possession of this for- 
tress, which is highly important to the safety of Ge- 
noa, urged the senate to besiege it, and furnished, for 
this purpose, all necessary assistance. Augustine 
Spinola, a commander of high reputation, invested 
the place, cannonaded it for forty days, and compel- 
led those who were within it to surrender at discre- 
tion. 

Some historians accuse Verrina, Calcagno and 
Sacco, who had returned from France, where they 
had been disgusted with the cold reception they had 
met with, of haying pdvised Jerome to conclude a ca- 



AGAINST GENOA. l6j 

pitulation so little honorable to his courage. The 
capture of the place was the cause of new distrac- 
tions in the republic, the senators differing in opinion 
with regard to the punishment of the prisoners. Ma- 
ny, inclined to be merciful, were in favor of pardon- 
ing Jerome, on account of his youth ; and insisted 
that the family of Fiesco had been sufficiently punish- 
ed by the death of the count and the confiscation of 
all his property ; but the hatred of Andrew Doria 
prevailed once more over the clemency of the senate ; 
he procured a decree to be passed that Jerome Fi- 
esco, Verrina, Calcagno, and Assereto should be ex- 
ecuted, and one still more detestable against Ottoban, 
which prohibited his posterity, to the fifth generation, 
from approaching Genoa. 

Here let us stop, and consider particularly all that 
happened in the execution of this great design. Let 
us, if possible, deduce, from the numerous errors 
which we may perceive, examples of human weak- 
ness ; and let us acknowledge that this enterprise, 
which in its conception was a masterpiece of human 
courage and subtlety, exhibited in its progress and 
termination the ordinary effects of the meanness and 
imperfection of our nature. How disgraceful it was 
in Andrew Doria to abandon the city, at the very be- 
ginning of the disturbance, without making the slight- 
est effort to quell, by his authority, the tumult of the 
populace ! What infatuation to disregard the informa- 
tion, which came to him from several sources, of the 
design of the count ! What imprudence in Giannetino 



168 CONSPIRACY OF FIESCO 

to go alone, in the darkness of night, to the gate of 
St. Thomas, to appease a commotion, which he had 
no reason to despise, being ignorant of the cause ! 
What cowardice in Cardinal Doria, who dared not 
leave the senate house to awe the people by the dig- 
nity of his station ! What imprudence in the senate to 
neglect assembling, on the first alarm, all their forces, 
to check the progress of the conspirators, merely 
sending small detachments, which could effect noth- 
ing important ! And how ridiculous, in fine, it was 
to attempt to recal to his duty, by remonstrances, an 
avowed rebel, with arms in his hands and superior 
in force ! But having concluded a formal treaty, by 
what maxim can the senate be justified for violating 
the public faith so solemnly pledged to Jerome and 
Ottoban ? If the apprehension of similar treatment 
may be advantageous to a state, by restraining, with- 
in the bounds of duty, those who have an inclination 
ty revolt, it may also be pernicious, by depriving of 
all hope of pardon those who have revolted. And it 
is, indeed, difficult to comprehend, why those politi- 
cians, who were considered able men, were not ap- 
prehensive of driving to despair, by this example, Je- 
rome Fiesco, who still held the rock of Montobio, 
which he might surrender into the hands of foreign- 
ers, and the loss of which must have been followed 
by the destruction of Genoa. 

But if those, of whom we have just spoken, com- 
mitted remarkable faults, it may, with equal truth, be 
said, that the conspirators committed even greater, 



AGAINST GENOA. 169 

after they had lost their chief. His valor and pru- 
dence, which animated and directed his party, vanish- 
ing at his death, confusion ensued, which completed 
their ruin. Jerome, who ought, for many reasons, to 
have concealed the death of his brother, was the first 
to announce it, and thereby revived the courage of 
his enemies, and threw dismay into the ranks of his 
friends. Ottoban, Verrina, Calcagno and Sacco, who 
escaped in the galley, set at liberty, almost as soon 
as they had left Genoa, the prisoners they had made, 
without reflecting that they might be of great use in 
effecting their accommodation. Verrina, when in- 
formed of the death of the count, fled, and shame- 
fully abandoned an important enterprise to the direc- 
tion of Jerome, who had neither sufficient experience, 
nor sufficient authority over the conspirators, to com- 
plete it. This same Jerome made a treaty with the 
senate, and consented to return to the condition of a 
private citizen, after having been on the point of be- 
coming a sovereign. He afterwards made a disgrace- 
ful capitulation in Montobio, confiding in the faith of 
those who had already violated their engagements. 
Verrina, Calcagno and Sacco, the principal actors in 
this conspiracy, and the most criminal of all the ac- 
complices of the count, persuaded Jerome, from the 
hope of impunity which they indulged, to commit 
this unworthy action, preferring rather to run the 
hazard of dying by the hands of an executioner, than 
to meet an honorable death in a breach. 

Thus terminated this great enterprise ; thus died 
15 



170 conspiracy or* fiesco 

John Lewis Fiesco, count of Lavagna, whom some 
honor with splendid eulogiums, whom others censure, 
and whom many excuse. If we regard the maxim, 
w T hich commands us always to respect the actual gov- 
ernment under which we live, his ambition, without 
doubt, was criminal ; if we consider his courage, and 
the brilliant qualities which shone forth in the man- 
agement of his enterprise, it appears noble and gene- 
rous ; if we regard the power of the Dorias which 
gave him good reason to apprehend the ruin of the 
republic and of himself, it appears excusable. But 
in whatever manner it may be spoken of, the most 
prejudiced cannot deny that all the ill they can say 
of him may also be said of the most illustrious men. 
He was born in a small state, where all subordinate 
stations were beneath his aspirations and his merit ; 
the restlessness natural to his countrymen, ever in- 
clined to novelty, the elevation of his own mind, his 
youth, his immense wealth, the number and the adu- 
lation of his friends, the attachment of the people, the 
respect shown him by foreign princes, and, in fine, 
the esteem of all men, were circumstances peculiarly 
adapted to inspire with ambition a mind less ardent 
than his. The result of his enterprise was one of 
those accidents which human wisdom cannot foresee. 
Had his success been equal to the vigor and talent 
he displayed, his courage and destiny might have 
raised him higher than the sovereignty of Genoa ; and 
those who, since his death, have vilified his memory, 
would have been, while he lived, the first to sing his 



} 






AGAINST GENOA. 171 

praises. Those authors who, to gratify the hatred of 
the Dorias, and to justify the senate for their breach 
of faith, have aspersed him with the 'blackest calum- 
nies, would then have composed his panegyric, and 
posterity would have placed him in the number of 
the heroes of his age. So true it is, that good or ill 
success is the ordinary criterion by which praise or 
censure is applied to extraordinary actions. Never- 
theless, I think it may be said, consistently with the 
duty of a historian who pronounces judgment upon 
the reputations of men, that nothing was wanting to 
establish that of John Lewis Fiesco but a longer life, 
and more just occasions of acquiring glory. 



FINIS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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